| We have all been doing fire drills since we were in | | | | unworkable as they interfered with the primary |
| grammar school. But in a modern industrial | | | | action of evacuating the building. |
| environment there is a lot more to consider than | | | | When executing a one at a time fire drill training |
| just marching the students down the hall. | | | | plan, be sure to include every one. Even those |
| In a manufacturing situation, there are specific | | | | whose only duty is to get themselves out of the |
| actions that need to be taken by machine | | | | building. Walk with them to the exit so you know |
| operators to shut down the machines safely and | | | | they know which one to use. |
| to minimize the restart expense. And if you are | | | | Also consider lines of progression as an employee |
| not actually shutting down your machines for a | | | | may be temporarily promoted to a different job |
| drill, then you don't know if your procedures | | | | task from time to time. Make sure you arrange |
| actually work. | | | | to train them on the emergency duties of the |
| OSHA and other regulating bodies have various | | | | temporary advancement position as well as the |
| rules about how often evacuation drills are to be | | | | regular duties. |
| practiced. This article in no way supersedes those | | | | Another aspect to consider in evacuations and |
| requirements. This article is designed to give you | | | | evacuation drills is the event of inclement weather. |
| advice on how to make your actual fire drill | | | | It does not help to have employees evacuate a |
| practice a more valuable experience. | | | | burning building only to die from hypothermia on |
| When I worked in a printing facility handling | | | | the outside. |
| flammable liquids, each employee had specific | | | | Make sure you have considered the possibility of |
| duties that he was expected to perform on his | | | | an evacuation during cold or wet weather. Make |
| way out the door in the event of a fire. These | | | | arrangements for alternate shelter or protective |
| duties included things like pressing an emergency | | | | clothing and practice the use and distribution of |
| stop button, releasing a safety latch to cover | | | | such during your actual evacuation drills. |
| flammable liquids or closing a door to a room | | | | Another very important aspect of evacuations is |
| where flammable liquids were stored. | | | | the accounting of personnel. You must have a |
| In a standard evacuation drill, there was no way | | | | quick and accurate method of accounting for all |
| to observe if every one did their jobs correctly | | | | personnel including visitors, vendors and |
| or if they even knew what these jobs were. | | | | contractors that are on the site during the |
| Practicing these jobs only once or twice a year | | | | evacuation. Many modern electronic attendance |
| was ineffective in making sure the workers were | | | | monitoring systems have made this task even |
| trained in the tasks. | | | | more challenging as you don't always have a |
| Because it was very expensive to restart the | | | | computer print out of who is at work with you |
| printing presses after any shutdown, we had to | | | | during an evacuation. |
| minimize the actual machine stoppages as well. | | | | You must prepare in advance a system that is |
| The most effective method we found for training | | | | accessible to supervisors so that they can |
| personnel in their evacuation duties was what we | | | | accurately account for their personnel in the |
| called the one at a time fire drill. | | | | event of an emergency. Overlooking a single |
| About once a month, our fire and emergency | | | | person in unacceptable in such an instance. So is |
| procedures team would take a list of employees | | | | the needless endangerment of emergency |
| and arrange with their supervisor to have them | | | | responders looking for a person who is not really |
| lead the trainer through their evacuation duties. | | | | trapped. |
| The trainer would observe their actions and | | | | Assigning small group supervisors or team leaders |
| compare what they did to the written procedure. | | | | the responsibility of tracking their employees and |
| If necessary, the trainer could take corrective | | | | keeping a written record of their presence or |
| action immediately and give feedback on how | | | | absence in the facility is one simple method of |
| they followed the written procedure. | | | | handling the accountability issue. Make sure you |
| If there was a deviation in the actions of the | | | | practice this accountability during your full |
| employee from the procedure, the team member | | | | evacuation drills as well as one on one with he |
| determined if training was required or if the | | | | supervisor or team leader. |
| procedure need to be modified to match current | | | | Evacuation drills are not just a required nuisance. |
| work practices. Therefore, the one at a time fire | | | | They serve a very important role in responding |
| drill accomplished two valuable purposes - | | | | to an emergency and minimizing your business |
| Procedure review and training. | | | | loss. Through proper planning and training you can |
| Since the machine was not actually shut down | | | | minimize the business interruption and restart |
| and the work crews not fully evacuated, the cost | | | | costs. |
| of this training exercise was minimal. Usually the | | | | Injured workers will significantly delay your restart |
| only cost involved was that of having an extra | | | | and impact your future productivity and |
| staff member on hand to fill in for the one being | | | | profitability. Money spent on training and planning |
| trained. | | | | for an emergency will save your many times the |
| We found this method of training to be very | | | | cost in the event of an actual emergency. The |
| effective. Many operators who had been in their | | | | one at a time fire drill training procedure can also |
| jobs for several years had never been given the | | | | be used to build familiarity with equipment making |
| opportunity to actually walk through their fire | | | | your employees even more productive. And, if |
| control duties before we instituted this program. | | | | they feel safe at work, they will be work more |
| We found several procedures that were | | | | effectively as well. |