When was your plant’s last fire drill and evacuation? If you do not
know. If you have to think about it. Then it maybe it is time for another fire
drill and evacuation. Here is a recent story of a company which had practice
fire drills and evacuations:
An
aluminium foundry is back to normal operations after a fire sent workers home one day during the week of March 6, 2016 in the Midwest USA.
The
fire started about 1:42 p.m. with the local fire department arriving on scene
shortly after. It was contained to an area about 400 feet from the north side
of the building, local fire chief said.
"What
happened was, it was going across the ceiling of the plant and hit a wall in
the plant where a fan was. It started blowing the flames out of the building,
which occurred after we got there," the local fire department said.
"Everything was in the ceiling of the plant, a pretty good size of the
ceiling area."
All
employees safely exited the building, local fire department said. The aluminium
foundry assistant vice president said the plant regularly practices fire drills
and evacuation plans. All employees were evacuated from the building and
accounted for at their evacuation points within a few minutes, he said.
The
sprinkler system was activated by the fire, which kept the blaze "somewhat
in check," The aluminium foundry assistant vice president said. Three fire
departments also responded with 27 firefighters on scene. Fire personnel were
on site for more than four hours dealing with the fire and later hot spots, he
said.
The
local county sheriff's deputies also were on scene to shut down the roads
around the plant.
The
aluminium foundry assistant vice president said initial damage estimates were
about $50,000 but might rise due to possible damage to electrical lines. The
company has yet to determine costs but said because the fire was mainly in the
overhead area no equipment was damaged.
"Our
first thought was to get everyone out safe and the second was how to get back
up and running," he said. "We haven't even gotten to that point of
assessing costs."
The
last hour or so of first shift and all of second was canceled to begin repairs
in the affected area, he said.
"All
areas except a small pocket were back up and running around 10:30 p.m. last
night," he said. "We had a lot of associates put in a lot of extra
hours last night but we got everything running again."
The
cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog commends this plant for the safe and
orderly evacuation once the fire broke out. We have post incidents where
workers have become trapped and some died due to blocked evacuation paths. It
is our recommendation that fire and evacuation drills be held at regular
intervals but at irregular times. In other words do not have the fire drill
take place at the same time.
Every time we here about a successful fire drill we think about the
World Trade Center terrorist attack in 2001. Why? Well one building tenant
Morgan Stanley evacuated many of their workers successfully. We acknowledge
that many did not. We include this mention not disrespect the dead but to
acknowledge how one individual and his constant and unending fire drills and
evacuation resulted in an orderly and systematic evacuation. Rick Rescorla was
in charge of corporate security at Morgan Stanley. He acknowledge the hazards
of their office building. He began to carry out an endless series of random
fire drills and evacuations. Stories talked about how Rick and his associates
would use bullhorns to coordinate the fire drills. The fire drills would occur
randomly. One even occurred during a meeting of the board of directors. Someone
once asked Rick if he was going overboard with the frequency of fire drills. He
said no. On September 11, 2001 when a plane hit into his tower he sprang into
action. “When a Port Authority announcement came over the P.A. system urging
people to stay at their desks, Rescorla ignored the announcement, grabbed his
bullhorn, walkie-talkie and cell phone, and began systematically ordering
Morgan Stanley employees to evacuate, including the 1,000 employees in WTC 5.”
Out of 2,687 Morgan Stanley workers, 30-40 perished in the attack. When one of
his colleagues told him he too had to evacuate the World Trade Center, Rescorla
replied, "As soon as I make sure everyone else is out". He was
last seen on the 10th floor, heading upward, shortly before the South Tower
collapsed at 9:59 A.M. His remains were never found.
So with that sad tale we take hope and inspiration that fire drills
and evacuations do work. When was the last time your plant had a fire drill and
evacuation?
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