Anyone on here clued up on health & safety in work?

[bozza]

The reason i'm asking is at work the other day there was a fire drill where all the employes had to evacuate the building but the section where i work we got told earlier in the day that there was going to be a fire drill and when we hear the fire alarm we had to carry on working while the other 400 or so employes evacuated for the fire drill.

I raised the question that surely this ain't right and may be illegal but got told it wasn't as our zone leader had told us where the fire exits are and that there was going to be a fire drill so we didn't take part.

My understanding is a fire drill is to practice the evacuation routine and it get's timed so they know how long it takes to evacuate all the buildings but surely it's not being carried out right if a dozen of us have to stay in the building and carry on working while the rest evacuate the building.

So i was just wondering if anyone knew if the company was breaking the law or not.

Even if they aren't it still annoys me that they just assume the lads that work in our section know how to evacuate the building correctly incase of a real fire.

 

[Darth Fader]

You should have left the building, drill or not.

 

[Scouser]

Should have left although a drill was planed how could they be sure it was not a real fire!

Its not like it was a 3 second alarm test!

 

[williamalex1]

report it to your local fire station , they will sort it

 

[Doon frae Troon]

If it was a full evacuation you should have gone. Very wrong of your company to do so. Try to make an anonymous call to the fire station as William said.

I used to do two a year and it is always quite surprising what turns up.
As a test I once locked myself in the disabled toilet [having told the duty manager] and was 'overlooked' in the building search. Later I asked the staff what would have happened if I had been deaf.
Fire drills are serious stuff and not to be regarded as a pain.

 

[williamalex1]

If it was a full evacuation you should have gone. Very wrong of your company to do so. Try to make an anonymous call to the fire station as William said.

I used to do two a year and it is always quite surprising what turns up.
As a test I once locked myself in the disabled toilet [having told the duty manager] and was 'overlooked' in the building search. Later I asked the staff what would have happened if I had been d
Fire drills are serious stuff and not to be regarded as a pain.

it just shows you who your freinds were

 

[bigslice]

what would have happened if there was a fire at the same time? fire bell goes LEAVE the building

 

[Basher]

EVERYONE should respond to a fire drill. Don't know how it stands within the HSE but I reckon they wouldn't be best pleased to learn that a whole section was instructed to ignore it and carry on working.
The company have a responsiblity to provide a safe workplace with means of safe access and egress. (That is regulation by law!) How could the company gauge how effectively the building was cleared if not ALL employees took part in the drill.

3 things you could do Bozza.

Report it to the HSE. (Could get messy)
Report it to the fire brigade (not sure what they might do)
Keep shtum (would take it to the union if you're concerned though mate)

 

[stevek1969]

We have 2 fire wardens per shift who clear the factory , no one is allowed to stay in the building until the fire brigade have given the all clear, i'll find out the proper procedure for you later

 

[Doon frae Troon]

it just shows you who your freinds were

Very true.

All the full tests were unannounced and on one memorable occasion we had two guys arguing with each other as to who was the duty manager. As I said it was surprising what turned up. Practice makes perfect/permanent though!

 

[MegaSteve]

Not a H+S expert as such but I have served as employee rep on H+S forums at previous employers...

Not sure if operating fire drill as you describe is 'illegal' as such... Where I used to work on fire drill days machine crews were advised to be running 'gash' through their machines so when alarm sounded large sums of money weren't 'lost' on shutting down machines to evacuate...

Assuming your company will have an employee rep on its H+S committee/forum suggest you speak to them in the first instance... Advise him/her of your concerns and request that they ensure employee concerns with the fire drill are properly minuted at the next meeting... Bigger companies are audited with regard their H+S practices and this will be picked up by the inspector... A company of your size will have a H+S person I am sure he/she on having your concerns properly raised and minuted will ensure 'best practices' are implemented at future drills... Bottom line is if there is a fire and employees get 'hurt' he/she will be the one going to prison as the person failing in ensuring 'best practice'...

 

[bozza]

Thanks for the replys, we have a bloke on our section that is a fire warden and he went to health and safety manager when he heard about the drill but got told not to leave as he wasn't sure what to do.

He got told to take part and do his fire warden drill and when he mentioned about the rest of the lads being told to carry on working he said it's ok and he knew about it and authorised it!

Think I'm just going to keep quiet about it as it will only make my life awkward if I report it and they find out.

But next time they pull me up for something health&safety related I'll make sure I use that against the
.