In Case of Emergency...

When I got my new job I noticed that there was a sign like thing on the door that said, in big bold letters, FLOOR WARDEN. I had a bit of an idea what it meant but I wasn't 100% certain and just decided not to worry about it until it came up because the person who trained me (hahahaha, what a joke that was!) didn't mention anything about it.

Then this morning I noticed that I had FW training. Not making the connection I started calling other people on the invitation to see what FW was. I was told "Fire Warden". I figured it out from there.

Anyway, so I went to the Floor Warden training and they started discussing what our roles as Floor Wardens is. Let me just start by saying, my idea of how it worked is quite different than what we actually do. See, I held a similar role at another site and there my responsibilities were to get the list of names of people who should be on the floor/in the area and check them off. I never got to test my skills though because, fortunately, we never had an emergency.

My role in my new building is that it's my responsibility to ensure that everyone in my designated area get to safety - whether that be outside or somewhere else inside the building. I have to go from office to office and make sure they are empty of people and then close the door. If, by chance, someone has closed their door, I only have to knock on the door and yell "EMERGENCY - GET THE HELL OUT OF THE BUILDING" or some such thing and move on. But what this means is, if there is a fire in the building, I can't leave until I've gotten my people out - or done what I could to get them out first.

Considering I'm the designated hysterical person in a crisis, it's not necessarily the best plan of action. Unfortunately though, they didn't like my suggestion of letting my people know they should just follow the sound of my voice as I ran, screaming, out of the building. Go figure.