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June 29, 2006
Fire Alarms
I was in one of the doctor's offices at Portland Medical Center [formerly TCMC] yesterday when the fire alarms went off. This involved loud horns going off all over the building, flashing stobe lights that said "Fire'' on them, and automatic fire doors closing throughout the building. When I went out in the hall, I heard someone announcing "Code Red - Operating Room" over the public address system. (You couldn't hear these announcements in the doctor's office.)
I take fire alarms very seriously, and I left. However, as I was leaving the building, I noticed that nobody else in the hospital was leaving.
Apparantly, these are unannounced fire drills that the hospital conducts all the time. "Code Red" followed by a location means there may be a fire in the location they are announcing.
Other than verifying that a) the horns work, b) the strobe lights work, and c) the automatic fire doors close automatically, I am not sure what this fire drill accomplished. From what I can gather, these drills occur fairly often, and everybody seems to know they are drills.
Ignoring fire alarms because they are "always just fire drills -- false alarms" seems rather problematic to me. What if it had been a real fire?
It seems to me it would be better to tell the workers in the hospital and doctors' offices that there will be a fire drill at, say, 2:00 this afternoon. Also put signs on the doors. That way, at 2:00, everybody knows it's just a drill. Any other time, however, assume the fire alarm is real, and everybody should exit the building immediately.
Any thoughts?
Posted by admin at June 29, 2006 10:37 AM
Comments
By Code, NFPA, 50% of the fire drills in health care have to be unannounced.
Posted by: LG at March 20, 2007 02:34 PM
Because they become mundane and no one pays attention to them.I seen first hand how it works.
Posted by: sam at July 11, 2006 11:52 AM
Why would anyone "announce" a drill when the purpose is to be sure that the employees are trained and knowledgeable in the fire safety program of the facility? If it was "announced" it would not be a true test as to whether the employees knew what to do in the event of a real fire.
Posted by: jaa at July 11, 2006 10:00 AM
Fire Alarms are not taken seriously anymore bc people see them as a nuisance. Portland does not have a well enforced fire alarm program and fire inspection program as other cities that see life safety as the number one factor. It may not have been a drill. The alarm could have been for real and the Admin of the hospital did not want to have to inconvience its customers and called it a drill so no one had to leave. There are some places in Portland that an alarm will go off 3-5 times a day and nothing is ever done. Some cities remedy the problem by only allowing 3 alarm per 6 mos and anymore than that, the owner is cited to court and must pay to have a tech come fix the problem. Most place dont want to spend moeny to save lives. It is sad we are like that.
Hears a thought. When ever you go out to eat or any other public places, sit near or stay very aware of your emegency exits so you can get out when everyone else ignores the alarm. I always look for the fire exits and my quickest path to it.
Posted by: Dave at July 1, 2006 07:49 AM
I agree that they should announce a fire drill. I work in one of the hardest hit areas that the April 7th tornado ripped through.For those of us who work in offices with no windows the alarm was very helpful, in fact it saved alot of lives.We knew something was wrong because the only drills that go off are the announced ones.
Posted by: sam at June 29, 2006 03:03 PM