Fire Drills

Siogfinsceal

are fire drills the most pointless thing on the planet?? We had one today in work. Knowing it was a drill I sat at my desk until they made us all go outside and stand in the cold. Because its always a drill noone leaves unless they have to. Now my point is that if there actually was a fire, im gonna just think its a drill and take my sweet time bothering to leave and wont be concerned if Im up in a meeting room or in the bathroom which are further from the door.

However, If instead th ecompany NEVER had a fire drill, I would have utmost respect for the fire alarm. I would know that it always meant we had an actual fire and would actually get up and get my ass outta there asap.

petes

So they actually tell you its a fire drill . You should have one that everyone knows about so you can all find the proper exits. No one should be told about the rest.

ciaran76

If you knew there was a fire drill why didn't you take your coat outside with you. I always do.:D

Canis Lupus

Siogfinsceal wrote:

are fire drills the most pointless thing on the planet?? We had one today in work. Knowing it was a drill I sat at my desk until they made us all go outside and stand in the cold. Because its always a drill noone leaves unless they have to. Now my point is that if there actually was a fire, im gonna just think its a drill and take my sweet time bothering to leave and wont be concerned if Im up in a meeting room or in the bathroom which are further from the door.

However, If instead th ecompany NEVER had a fire drill, I would have utmost respect for the fire alarm. I would know that it always meant we had an actual fire and would actually get up and get my ass outta there asap.

Ya see the funny thing here is that fire drill or not you should get up and go outside. Furthermore you should have a person/people in charge in case of fire who should systematically clear the building and make you go outside. They aren't doing their jobs if you were let stay inside during a drill.

toffeapple

in a real fire people would be climbimg over each others flame englufed hairdo's to get the fu*k out of there...when have you ever seen anyone exit anywhere in an orderly fashion...fu*k that a fire! im on me toes and im taking my walkman and coat

monkeyfudge

Our fire escape door has an electronic lock on it that never works, either that or it's just a door painted on to a brick wall. So we end up having to take the long way out during a fire drill.

Not sure what we'd do in an actual fire though... some of us do have fancy luminous jackets to put on though.

petes

toffeapple wrote:

in a real fire people would be climbimg over each others flame englufed hairdo's to get the fu*k out of there...when have you ever seen anyone exit anywhere in an orderly fashion...fu*k that a fire! im on me toes and im taking my walkman and coat

Thats the point of fire drills, so people don't do that. Me I'd jump out the nearest window.

Siogfinsceal

they told us it was a drill AND they made us leave and go outside through the main door not the fire door ...interesting. I agree with toffeeapple, fire or drill my bag, coat , mobil efone and mp3 player and wallet are comin with me. were on the ground floor and its one those buildings where your never more than 2 minutes away from a door. its only 2 stories high too so if you had to jump ye woul dbe allright. just dont see the point of a drill it just teaches you that the alarm shouldnt alarm you

Oriel

Set fire to the building to test the procedure...

toffeapple

petes wrote:

Thats the point of fire drills, so people don't do that. Me I'd jump out the nearest window.

Ever been in an emergency in a building..fire or bombscare that people thought was geniune...survival instincts takes over and people run...if theres a real threat and you can see flames and smoke..you'll be gone..look at twin towers people through them self out the windows rather than face a fire.

dundalk cailin

we had a few drills in college or sec school and the lecturer or teacher would either tell us bout it beforehand, or when it did go off take thier time clearing their stuff thus not exactly making us fell panicked :rolleyes:

robinph

They shouldn't really tell you that there is going to be a drill, but after a few of them it won't make any difference anyway as everyone will just assume that it's another drill.

I saw something, probably on Discovery, which I think was about them testing the escape systems for airlines and they could not manange to get the test passengers to behave as if there was a real emergency going on as they all just calmly walked down the isle and out the doors. So they offered prize money to the first people to get out of the plane and suddenly everyone was jumping over seats and hitting people in order to get out first.

Maybe they should deduct you a days holidays or something if you don't make it out of the buiding withing 2 minutes of the alarm sounding when they are having a drill, that would get people paying attention properly.

Siogfinsceal

deducting pay is not the answer tbh if they really want us to be scared of the fire alarm and get the hell outta the building fast then they should only sound the alarm when theres a fire!!
as for the 911 incident in fairness they were in a high rise building that a plabne had just crashed into of course they were sh!tting it. Its not quite the same as a 2 story building where some eejits computer went on fire,.... actually that happened once..it was my computer

robinph

Siogfinsceal wrote:

deducting pay is not the answer tbh if they really want us to be scared of the fire alarm and get the hell outta the building fast then they should only sound the alarm when theres a fire!!
as for the 911 incident in fairness they were in a high rise building that a plabne had just crashed into of course they were sh!tting it. Its not quite the same as a 2 story building where some eejits computer went on fire,.... actually that happened once..it was my computer

But the point of the drill is so that they know that the alarm is working and that you know where you have to get to and how to get there. If the alarm goes off and you don't know if its a drill or not until your outside, but if its a drill and you take too long then you loose money, or if its real and you get burned then you will very quickly learn to get your arse outta there asap regardless.

Getting you out of the building is the whole point of the exersise, just because it's a bit chilly or raining or your bored of it is no excuse.

hullaballoo

Whether or not you think fire drills are important depends on what weighting you give to human life.

Siogfinsceal

they can test the alarm without having to turf us out in the rain and i know where im trying to get to lol outside the building and away from the fire

stevie06

my god this converstion is typical irish thinking! it's like the scetch tommy teirnan did about the pub made of christmass trees and petrol!
fire drills are there to get people used to leaving the building in an orederly manner so that every body gets out.
only in ireland will a fire alarm go off and every body will wait till it turns off or they see flames or hear people shouting fire, it's a recipe for diasater!
there should be no need for prizes or threats to take part in a drill, it's in your own interest! it's not as if it's done every week it's normally only done once a year.
and anyway it gives ya a break from sitting on your ass all day! a bit of fresh air never killed anyone (except the aliens from mars)

robinph

stevie06 wrote:

...
there should be no need for prizes or threats to take part in a drill, it's in your own interest!
...

The only thing that will get some people running though by the sounds of it is actually seeing the flames burning the person next to them. Even then I'm not sure if everyone would belive it and bother running away. If the alarm goes off then assume its real, if it turns out not to be real then just be thankful that you still have a job to return to after a couple of minutes getting a bit of fresh air.

Earthhorse

From the inimitable Mitch Hedberg:

"I was in a casino, minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, 'You're gonna have to move. You're blocking a fire exit.' As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. Unless you're a table."

MadPatrick

If there was never a fire drill and there was a real fire and you ended getting burnt, you'd be able to sue the company for not having a fire drill.
I reckon it's a legal thing. And you'd be surprised how stupid some people are and would try running out the furthest away exit and hold up all the other more sensible people trying to get out the proper exits.
Besides, fire drills give you a chance to have a break, a fag and you can talk to your frinds. And get paid for it. Result.

rubadub

I remember them in school and the teachers going mental telling people to leave stuff behind. if it was a real fire we would have been burnt to a crisp, the kunt would have locked the doors insisting we drop everything. I was convinced they sly fuker was going to go back and fleece all our bags while the fire blazed in some remote part of the school

Hobbes

The building I was in the US the fire alarm is like this.

*Siren*
*Womans voice* "A fire alarm has been tripped in the building, please remain where you are until it has been confirmed"
5 mins later...
"Please vacate the building"

I was already halfway down the fire escape when the woman started talking. There was 1 test drill and 3 actual fires when I was there (about 3 years). Mainly the canteen or people doing stupid stuff like piling books on top of a monitor while its on.

mickymg2003

In college the alarm for a drill and the real thing is different. Cant say the drills are anything like a real fire would be. People tend to take their time or hide somewere so they dont have to go out in the cold.

Lump

Here at work they never have firedrills, they just point out where the fire exits are. Also they point out where to go if there's a bomb threat. We have special areas called "Internal Shelter Areas"

We all know what to do if there's a fire. Run like be-jaysus. If there's a bomb, stay inside.

It'd be madness to have a fire drill, with 6,000 odd people leaving the building, it'd be madness. They do test the alarm/PA system quite regularly.

John

dingding

monkeyfudge wrote:

Our fire escape door has an electronic lock on it that never works, either that or it's just a door painted on to a brick wall. So we end up having to take the long way out during a fire drill.

Not sure what we'd do in an actual fire though... some of us do have fancy luminous jackets to put on though.

An advantage of fire drills. Where i worked fire doors closed blocking certain exits, this was not aparent without the drill.

toffeapple

robinph wrote:

The only thing that will get some people running though by the sounds of it is actually seeing the flames burning the person next to them

They should hire stuntmen( or just nominate someone from marketing) set them on fire and get them to run through your office screaming at the top of their lungs "OH MY GOD THERES A F#CKING FIRE..GET OUT SAVE YOUR SELF..OH YEAH AND FORGET ABOUT COATS"
that should do the trick

marshmallow

Siogfinsceal wrote:

are fire drills the most pointless thing on the planet?? We had one today in work. QUOTE]

Do you work beside Loreto? We heard the bell go off and everyone started waving at us.

We had one in school on Thursday. It's not funny when it's cold!

Guy:Incognito

The reason they tell you when theres a drill is that you know when the alarm goes off without being told in advance, then you know its real.

Umiq88

one is fair enough but in school they've had 2 last week we just moved up to ther other end of the corridor away from the bells think its a bit dangerous tbh noone's going to know if its real if they had it once a year and told people it was a drill and people knew where the exits are would be far more sensible

Guy:Incognito

They are rrquired by law to have one every so often (dont know the time frame)

kdouglas

the best firedrill ever was in college a couple of months back, we were warned about it by email a week in advance, and then there was announcments all day reminding people about it, then about 5 mins before the drill another one announcing it would be in five mins. complete and utter joke.

civdef

only in ireland will a fire alarm go off and every body will wait till it turns off or they see flames or hear people shouting fire, it's a recipe for diasater!

No, it's human nature, and has been well documented all over the world.

Fire drills are there to familiarise occupants with the evacuation and assembly proceudres in place for the building. There's no real need for them to be a surprise (as some have already pointed out - surprise drills can have the negative effect that people assume an alarm = drill.)

SoupyNorman

mickymg2003 wrote:

In college the alarm for a drill and the real thing is different. Cant say the drills are anything like a real fire would be. People tend to take their time or hide somewere so they dont have to go out in the cold.

Yeh same in college here, if the bell is constant !FIRE! If its an interupted ring !PUB!