False fire alarm....

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has mentioned the importance of fire drills and evacuations. On our site visits we will ask random factory floor workers when was their last fire drill. If they can not tell us quickly then it has been too long. On occasion a fire alarm will falsely sound. But, no one is aware of that there is no danger until afterwards. It is at that time that you should evaluate how the evacuation went. What worked and what did not. As with every other else we sadly know of workers who either became lost or disoriented and died during an evacuation. We pray that no one is ever injured or killed in our industry. We hope that our posts in someway either reinforce the good work your individual plant or company is making. Or our posts provide the seed that will eventually grow and make your environment safer. Here is a recent story.

Alarm company called back and advised they spoke to someone on the scene who advised false alarm.

We have chosen to omit the company name or location. Because it appears that this Southeast USA aluminum company has had several false fire alarms in the past. We have been able to locate three (3) over the past 16 months. We are unaware of the particulars of each incident. But caution this plant and any facility that has had numerous false fire alarms to actively educate their workers to assume that every activated fire alarm is real. 

The editors of the APSB have been involved in three evacuations on site visits. On each every fire alarm activation we are proud to see how companies that prepare beforehand operate in times of emergency.

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