We have regular fire drills at this office. I am one of the red hat wearers, charged with making sure everyone is out of my assigned section of the building. This is not a difficult job. In fact, the test itself is hardly a test at all. Maybe all we're really drilling is out ability to walk. Because is sure ain't no test of how we respond to a possible fire.
The thing is, it is always planned. Fire alarm will go off on Day X at Y o'clock. Exit the building calmly. Not hard to do well when everyone is all primed and ready to go. I wanted a fire drill that arrived with no warning. Just the alarm going off unannounced some day. See how well we do, find out if there are things we could do better.
That isn't going to happen. Why not? Well...because if people thought there was a fire, they might panic. And someone might get hurt. I still think it's better to know now if there will be an all out panic instead of in the middle of an actual fire. Although, I don't know what we'd do about it. Can you fire someone for losing their cool during an unplanned fire drill?
That is odd. I would think you would want to know who would panic. Huh.
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