Mall Safety Article (Not Shooting)

[SecTrainer]

This one's about lessons learned regarding mall evacuations:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local....asp?ID=174112

[N. A. Corbier]

This one's about lessons learned regarding mall evacuations:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local....asp?ID=174112

Oh, now that's a scary thought. I haven't even opened the article yet, and the concept of evacuating literally thousands of people, including employees from tenants, etc...

That's a logistical nightmare that definitely need drilled and practiced.

[HotelSecurity]

Oh, now that's a scary thought. I haven't even opened the article yet, and the concept of evacuating literally thousands of people, including employees from tenants, etc...

That's a logistical nightmare that definitely need drilled and practiced.

It's the same as hotels. You are dealing with a majority of the people that unlike an office building, haven't taken part in fire drills.

[N. A. Corbier]

It's the same as hotels. You are dealing with a majority of the people that unlike an office building, haven't taken part in fire drills.

... I remember when we had a fire alarm go off at a hotel. While I was hunting the source of the alarm (fire, smoke, sounds of sprinkler activation...), I noticed NOBODY got up. Nobody left the hotel.

The front desk (MOD) had no fire training, and was told by the franchise's company to do whatever the hell I said, when I said it, and he'd be over in 5 minutes to help me out.

Folks: We aren't trained in evacuations in Florida. Its not part of the D course, nor did my company ever give instruction. Bomb threat? Yeah. Evacuating a 600 room hotel when no one even opened their door? No clue.

Thankfully, I found the source of the alarm in 1 minute, which was some idiot who took a leatherman tool to his sprinkler. He was arrested 4 hours later for felony tampering with a fire suppression device. They sent a probationary to wedge the sprinkler, and I went with him to "survey the damage," and declared the room a crime scene. The engine chief was like, "o rly? EVERYBODY OUT. Call the police."

[Chucky]

Just a little off subject but about 5 years ago a guy and his wife were drunk and frisky in the local Hilton 6th floor. Not what you think, they had a pillow fight and managed to set off the wall mounted sprinkler head. The newspaper said the damage was in excess of $100.000 from their room down to the 1st floor. The pair had a court date set.

[HotelSecurity]

Congradulations on your rank promotion Nathan. (Just remember like the Chicken Man, Saunders, it's only honourary! ). By the way I thought at the hotels you worked at during a fire alarm you were supposed to replace the Front Desk people while THEY took care of the alarm?

And staying off topic We had water damage caused by vandalism that was bad. One New Years Eve the people partying decided to pull the fire hose out of the cabinet on one of the upper floors & turn it on. The water entered the elevator shafts & shorted out 3 of the 6 elevators. Took a week to get them fixed.

[Hospital Security Dude]

Sounds like one big Chinese Fire Drill!!

[SecTrainer]

Here are a couple of references from the National Safety Council and others on high-rise and hotel evacuation methods:

1. High-Rise Evacuation - in Word format, best for printing.

2. Same as above in HTML format in case you don't have Word.

3. Hotel Fire/Safety/Evacuation Checklist in PDF format (you need the free Acrobat reader). The HTML version provided by Google is relatively worthless as it does not preserve the table for the checklist.

[Chucky]

As the live in head of security and safety prior to my early retirement from a local college I had to know most all the items on the fire safety list. And was responsible to meet the responding dept at the front door and answer any questions they may have had. I had keys and access to every nook and cranny in the place. The list shown has some outdated items that are not required in the U.S. but 99% is right on and a dam good tool to have at your finger tips.

All that being said just Friday we had a smell of smoke in our building that was very strong and some employees were complaining about light headedness.
After what seemed like an hour the FD was called and responded very rapidly.

The first thing they did was come right to me as I am looking a lot like a cop. A crusty old union Lt asked where the smoke was coming from? I had to say I don't have a clue. Then he asked where the master box was located. Same answer.
Now he's getting annoyed. I informed him that I do not work for the company as an employee and only have 1 concern in this building. In a gruff voice he said well then do you know who or where the manager is? Sad to say but no.

As he walked away he mumbled "looks like you don't know much". All my fault right? The manager found us and I was more embarrassed that his answers were somewhat close to mine. I mean he at least should know the name of the company corporate sends to work on the heating units.

So herein lies the problem. Every time the place needs work the managers call corporate whom in turn sends subs out to fix things. This is why the list posted should be filled out in quadruplicate and laminated and posted in front, back and in the office of the building. Just for fun if a head goes off the first thing that the firemen want to know is where is the main riser located? I'm sure some of you are saying what the hell is a main riser.

[SecTrainer]

The manager found us and I was more embarrassed that his answers were somewhat close to mine...Every time the place needs work the managers call corporate whom in turn sends out subs to fix things...

Good points, all. An alternative to your idea about posting the lists (and laminating them, amen!) would be for corporate to provide an emergency number where someone is available 24 x 7 to provide the information. The need for it is obvious.

I wonder if that crusty old Lt maybe fired off a red-hot letter or phone call to corporate the next day...if not, he sure should have. Fire departments are marvelous and they can fix almost anything, but as Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid".

[james2go30]

hey

... I remember when we had a fire alarm go off at a hotel. While I was hunting the source of the alarm (fire, smoke, sounds of sprinkler activation...), I noticed NOBODY got up. Nobody left the hotel.

The front desk (MOD) had no fire training, and was told by the franchise's company to do whatever the hell I said, when I said it, and he'd be over in 5 minutes to help me out.

Folks: We aren't trained in evacuations in Florida. Its not part of the D course, nor did my company ever give instruction. Bomb threat? Yeah. Evacuating a 600 room hotel when no one even opened their door? No clue.

Thankfully, I found the source of the alarm in 1 minute, which was some idiot who took a leatherman tool to his sprinkler. He was arrested 4 hours later for felony tampering with a fire suppression device. They sent a probationary to wedge the sprinkler, and I went with him to "survey the damage," and declared the room a crime scene. The engine chief was like, "o rly? EVERYBODY OUT. Call the police."

we are trained on the emergency intercom system we have fires etc. that can be heard throughout both towers and the amenties...maintenance and security work together on this and when the fire dept. showup we assist them be getting guests and owners on evacuations....however we never have any drills...which would be damn near impossible in the hotel/condo industry...however it would nice if we had them for our officers and maint. folks who the primary factors in resolving theses situations on our site till the pros got there.

[N. A. Corbier]

Was this company level training, or part of your specific site training?

[james2go30]

hey

Here are a couple of references from the National Safety Council and others on high-rise and hotel evacuation methods:

1. High-Rise Evacuation - in Word format, best for printing.

2. Same as above in HTML format in case you don't have Word.

3. Hotel Fire/Safety/Evacuation Checklist in PDF format (you need the free Acrobat reader). The HTML version provided by Google is relatively worthless as it does not preserve the table for the checklist.

Thanks for this...I'm going to copy this. Great info.

[james2go30]

yea

Was this company level training, or part of your specific site training?

Site training. On this site we coordinae with maint. and front desk...front desk we got lucky cause 3 of the front desk mgt. used to do security and they work with us well...but for emergencies we primarily work with maint. as they are also trained extensively on these procedures.

[N. A. Corbier]

Site training. On this site we coordinae with maint. and front desk...front desk we got lucky cause 3 of the front desk mgt. used to do security and they work with us well...but for emergencies we primarily work with maint. as they are also trained extensively on these procedures.

If the site had not trained you in evacuation procedures, would you have received any training? Did you get any in the D course, or from whatever (it is entirely possible!!!) course your company gave you before they sent you to your first post?