My work requires me to travel, and currently I am in the middle of a set of many trips (6 trips in 9 weeks, with 3 more potential trips likely to become reality, making 9 trips in 9 weeks). I do have the occasional traveller’s anecdote, and tips for making a journey comfortable and successful, but this experience was a first for me.
While I was in the shower of my hotel room, the building evacuation alarm activated. And yes, I had shampoo in my eyes when it happened. Please don’t ask why a bald guy had shampoo in his eyes, I just did.
My first reaction was to curse the inconvenience, but I did get out, dry myself (with shampoo residue still in my hair), get dressed enough to evaluate, grabbed my laptop (nothing else, and yes it was a safety issue), and proceeded to evacuate. My room was on the 9th floor, and when I reached the 5th floor, the evacuation horn stopped. Seeing that I was halfway down, and realising I did not have my room key with me, I continued down.
And here is where the story gets interesting. At the 4th floor, the fire stairs have an exit sign that leads … into the parking garage. There were no evacuation signs, so I continued to what looked like another set of fire stairs. It took me into the reception lobby of the hotel. After the local fire brigade was finished discussing issues with the manager, I asked what I was supposed to do. It became apparent the manager was very new, and did not know about the “second” set of fire escape stairs (the ones closest to my room). The hotel is a major multi-national chain (I am a member of the frequent guest program) and I have since reported my displeasure to corporate authorities. As of this writing, there has not been time for a satisfactory answer.
Previously in my career, I was a floor warden. One reason I volunteered for the job was a very dishonourable reason – I got to know about the evacuation drills in advance, and could make plans accordingly. One day, I decided to be a rebel and test the evacuation drill. Twenty minutes before the drill, I “went to the dentist”. I worked on the 19th floor, and the building was part of a 4-high-rise complex with all four buildings connected by an underground multi-level car park. When the evacuation horn sounded, I tried to re-enter my building via the car park. I succeeded – with the elevators. Yes, the elevators. The ones that were not supposed to function when a fire alarm activated. The elevators actually delivered me to my floor, next to the fire escape being used, and the remainder of the occupants of my floor were evacuating. I had identified a major problem in building safety – it turned out the car park was considered a “separate building” and the evacuation system “did not need to work in that building”. Of note … I could faintly hear the evacuation tones when I entered the elevator, but it could have been anything (including a car alarm in the car park). As the elevator took me up into the high rise, the evacuation tone became quite loud.
My manager realised the value I was trying to add, and asked me to continue to be a rebel and continue to find problems with the system. I was unable to find another, but it was not for lack of effort.
How do you perform your emergency response drills? Do you have designated people actively looking for “problems” with the system? When organisations have done this, the findings are occasionally quite surprising and frightening, and frequently eye-opening. Some from my career …
+ A rescue drill involving a scenario where a truck had hit an LPG pipe (it was a scenario, not an actual event). The plant manager quickly realised the next isolation valve on the LPG pipe was about 30 km away, and the incident would empty the entire pipeline. A study was implemented.
+ An environmental response drill where a truck had driven off a causeway in the Arctic (again, it was a scenario, not an actual event). The scenario involved the truck tipping over and losing its contents. During periods when the polar pack ice is present but thin, it was not known if the ice could support the weight of the spill response equipment (and obviously the floating response equipment would not work). A study was implemented.
+ A high rise had an evacuation drill, where the scenario meant only one fire escape stairs were available. To the surprise of all, the same day a road repair crew had started doing major excavations … very close to the fire exit. The result was 24 floors of office workers emptying into a road construction site. A study was implemented.
+ A final example from early in my career. Before I met the lady that would eventually become my significant other, I was working on the 11th floor of a high-rise, and the building had to evacuate. The floor warden was a very attractive and single young lady. I decided I wanted to spend some one-on-one time with her, so I “tripped and hurt my ankle” while walking to the emergency stairs. This meant I could not walk down the stairs, and she was then forced to stay with me to simulate what would “really happen”. She never did find out that my ankle injury was fake (I took sick leave the following day to help make the “injury” look genuine). I did, however, find out that we had absolutely nothing in common, so I guess it was a good outcome. And … no further study was implemented.