"incident made employees panic...."

The importance of training for emergencies has been repeatedly promoted by the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog. Here is a recent incident that emphasizes the need for training workers on how to react when an emergency occurs:

Information obtained in the field; this fire occurred around 16:00. Flames emerged from the North side of the factory and burned to the roof.

The incident made employees panic and tried to extinguish the fire with makeshift equipment. “There were witnesses who saw the incident and immediately called the fire department.” Said the source.

Fire local fire department trucks were dispatched. Given the narrow alley the fire trucks could not enter. Fight fighters struggled by were able to extinguish the fire.

We are thankful that no one was injured in this incident. We note that the fire department was called immediately too.

There are many incidents that occur that we do not post. We post incidents for a variety of educational reasons. We found that the news media reports stated that the incident made the “workers panic”. We do not discount the accuracy of those statements. We have been in workplaces when an emergency occurred and workers panicked. We were able to calm the workers and address the issue. It is imperative to train workers and supervisors on how to deal with emergencies. For many plants there seems to be a constant flow of employees in and out. This is occurring for two main reasons, covid, and workers leaving our industry. We still recommend training all workers, but would emphasize the importance of training supervisors. It is supervisors, and managers that need to know what to do. Supervisors also need to be trained on how to manage people. Without those important skills they will not be able to react and lead their workers in a time of emergency.

Please comment.