FIRE!!

Today we had a fire drill in our building. I work in a 15 story building and I am on the 10th floor. It was interesting to me to see the reaction of some of the co-workers on my floor. I will get more into that in a minute; first let me give some background on the full situation.

Yesterday I received a call from the admin on our floor asking me if I would be a Fire Warden. (This was in response to an email sent to her from the building management about a fire drill going to take place on Tuesday) Now having been in a position in the past to coordinate an entire 43 floor building evacuation, I knew she wouldn’t get many volunteers to assist her so I accepted. She was surprised that I said yes and that she would bring me a vest. Later that afternoon I got the vest and minimal instruction on the duties.

Around 3:00 p.m. she sent out an email with the directions for the staff and the murmuring started. On the diagram indicating the meeting area there were two ways to locate the correct place to congregate. (A number and a dashed trail to follow) The murmuring was about how the map was hard to read and they didn’t know where to go. I didn’t find one person who could think past the number and just follow the dashed trail.

All of that was yesterday prior to me leaving the office, so this morning I figured I would print out maps and highlight the route to take if you were located on my floor. (For the common sense inept) I also made a personal list of who I was responsible for getting out. When the time came for the drill I can honestly say that most of the people left in ample time. I was disappointed when 2 of my co-workers wouldn’t leave. One wanted to complete an email and the other wanted to wait for the person that was completing the email. This has become such an issue that in our building the fire Marshalls are fining those employers whose employees are not participating.

I understand that Fire Drills seem to be mundane and un-important but look back that those who went un-prepared and remember how they fared. Another issue I have with people who wont participate is that if I am floor leader and you are dragging your feet, not only are you risking your life but you then place mine in danger if there were a real situation happening.

If you don’t like fire drills look at them as an opportunity to get away from your desk. Or treat them like you remove duct tape and do it quickly to get it over with. I will end my lengthy rant for now, just please remember that your actions in these situations effect others.