Drill Preperation

[HCSecurity]

I'm new to this site. I would like any information that you guys are able to provide.
I am security for a health care facility and we are reevaluating our drill procedures (fire, evacuation, severe weather, etc.). Currently we announce our drills by sending out e-mails to all staff and by announcing the drill 3-4 times during that day over the intercom system. But now we are getting the push not to announce the drills.

Here are my questions: Do you do announced or unannounced drills? Who is involved (whole facility vs. just staff) in these drills? If you don't announce drills have they resulted in accidents or injuries? Why do you do one rather than the other?
Thank you in advance!

[Eric]

We have one official drill a year and 1-3 others over the year to keep the skills up. No notice given of drill, but notice of observations / corrections expected for the next one are sent out.
Facilities and senior Security staff organize it.
A health care facility is much different than an office complex though.

[N. A. Corbier]

I would have an announced drill every 3 months, and an unannounced drill every six months.

Don't forget to call your local EMS and other agencies and announce the unannounced drill! Someone with a cell phone may call 911 and report the drill conditions as real.

[Eric]

Do you have floor wardens?

[HCSecurity]

Do you have floor wardens?

Yes we do, our engineering staff is trained to split up the building.

[HotelSecurity]

All my false fire alarms are carefully recorded & examined to see what was done right & what was done wrong. We have about 3 false fire alarms a month. I consider them as fire drills.

As for Floor Wardens etc. I hate this system. We are required by the Montreal Fire Department to have a plan based like Eric says on an office model. Offices a great. You can have someone on each floor as a Warden. In hotels however it is completely different. Yes, I have Maids up on the floors 8 out of the 24 hours but if you check an hotel in the middle of the day I'd be surprised if you found 10% of the rooms occupied. On the other hand at 4 a.m. I can have 2000 people in my hotel with 5 employees on duty. The offical fire plan looks great on paper but is not realistic.

[Mr. Security]

All my false fire alarms are carefully recorded & examined to see what was done right & what was done wrong. We have about 3 false fire alarms a month. I consider them as fire drills.........................

Three per month? You would be issued a summons and subjected to a fine here.

[Bill Warnock]

Three per month? You would be issued a summons and subjected to a fine here.

Mr. Security:
There are a couple of companies who attribute lightning induced "false alarms" to an act of God and proclaim there is nothing they can do about nature. Some jurisdictions have the same unfortunate attitude.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[HotelSecurity]

Three per month? You would be issued a summons and subjected to a fine here.

I could write something about calling the fire department or waiting until the internal brigade determines they are needed but I think I'll get myself in trouble so I won't

98% fo the alarms are on Saturday evenings when the artifical smoke the DJs use at weddings & other dances sets off a smoke detector in a banquet salon.

[Mr. Security]

False Alarms

In the case of a summons, "false" means that it was triggered by something preventable, such as dirty detectors, water leaks in the sprinkler system, hot work w/o disarming the loop, etc.

[Mall Director]

Ohh yeah.. Hot work orders.. I just cringe when they come across my desk.. "congratulations, we will be conducting fire drills for the next few days people, thank you for the notice you dropped on my desk!"..LOL!