We had a fire drill today.
I'm curious...those of you who don't work in safety-related jobs, do you hate fire drills? Do you try to get out of leaving the building during a fire drill? Do you think the safety manager is a moron for making you go through the ridiculous effort of a fire drill when, obviously, anyone with half a brain is going to be able to get out of the building just fine, thank you very much?
Pehaps those are leading questions.
So I was monitoring the fire drill, and actually I didn't hear too much grumbling today, probably because is was a beautiful, cloudless, crisp afternoon and even the biggest complainers welcomed a ten-minute break in the sun. But I did catch a few people who, when the alarm sounded, passed two available exit doors and went down a stairwell to get personal belongings from their offices before leaving the building.
"I never leave the building without my purse."
"What if there was a fire and we couldn't go back in? How would I get home without my keys?"
"Somebody might steal my money while the building is empty."
I don't care any more. The problem is, I can't say that out loud (well, I shouldn't. I have said it, and my boss pretended to ignore it. He implied that I should not say it again.)
I'm sure this is a training issue, but I am at a loss as to how to train adults who think that going down a stairwell to retrieve their keys and purses in a potentially burning building makes sense.
Much like I said about the health issues a couple days ago, there are a few people at work that I care about. My sister works there, and for her I might even do the supremely unsafe and stupid and go into a burning building to try to get her out if it came to it...she has three kids and I don't. But the rest...crispy critters. Maybe you should have paid a little more attention during the safety assembly.
I care if I get fired. I care if I get sued.
And as much as I wish I didn't, I obviously care about the people I say I don't care about, otherwise this would not still be on my mind at 11:30 on Friday night.
Posted by Nic at October 3, 2003 11:25 PM | TrackBackHEy there !!!
I can say from my point of view, that I care about safety. I work in the construction industry (renovator) If I dont take safety serious I can wind up seriously injured or DEAD. I find it irresponsible that some dont take it serious. Most of my friends work in buildings and I'll bet dollas to donuts they dot have an escape plan, nor do they drill one. I'll also assume they have no defined roles in the event of an emergency, like a fire for instance. Who calls who, who mans the hoses. DO they know where the hoses are and how to use them NOT. Its whistling past the grave yard I tell ya. The best way to at cause over something is to get trained, and drill it. I know they go on work related training, launguage, software administrative etc... but something like that, like a fire ....... Sick I think, their lives depend on it.