h a l f b a k e r yEureka! Keeping naked people off the streets since 1999.
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register.
Please log in or create an account.
|
When the bells start ringing during a fire alarm test, people generally
finish what they're doing, chat about how annoying fire drills are,
collect their coats, scarves and bags, mill about the desk of the
person they fancy from accounts, and spend the next 30 minutes in a
state of unconcerned
nonchalance, plodding down the stairs at the
speed of a rolling bullet.
This is unproductive in a fire drill as it consequently cannot accurately
evaluate the building's exit points in the event of a real fire. People
need to be concerned - they need to hurry - in order to test the
building.
An attack on the senses would do the trick. The fire alarms could
release a pungent smell of burning wood and plastic, for starters.
Further advancements could be made, including actual smoke
machines planted by a "Real-Drills" service the night before. Smoke
would seep through the elevators, and some rooms could be subject
to a full simulation with bright red and yellow lights emanating from
behind closed doors. Some shrieking might also help.
When people run screaming from the building you will know if your
office block provides adequate exit routes in the event of a real fire.
-- to be used once in a blue moon so as to reduce the possibility of
people being desensitised to the smell, sight and sound of fire. Which
would be bad.
Not initially inspired by [sukiyaki]'s misspelling
muscial_20fire_20alarms
Musky fire alarms. [theleopard, Jan 09 2009]
[link]
|
| |
I think it might be a little better to gauge peoples' reactions under stressful conditions then apply that to emergency exit design and safety standards. |
|
| |
Sounds like pretty stressful conditions...? |
|
| |
Did you have a fire-drill as well today then [theleop]? |
|
| |
I once worked in a building where there really was a fire - we smelled it before the alarms went off, even though it was four floors above us.
The fire was in the lift winding gear on the roof, and the smoke got sucked into the aircon intakes and distributed around the building. [+] |
|
| |
Indeed I did [tom]. There was little to no screaming. |
|
| |
(Thanks for bun [copro]!) |
|
| |
Also some incentive may help. Depending on the
general desires of the office workers, have a new
fire drill,known fact, that freebies await the occupants outside. First come first serve,
Concert tickets, a pedicure, the afternoon off
with pay ( the slower to exit get burdened with
paying the afternoon offs' pay). |
|
| |
What about penalties for those that don't get out> Last one out is a rotten egg, say, or a smouldering corpse? |
|
| |
How about teams of actors rushing around with movie FX flame-throwers? |
|
| |
Do those movie FX flame throwers not still throw flames? |
|
| |
I'm umming and arring over the incentives ploy, as on the one hand,
people will simulate the effects of panic by hurting each other to get
some freebies, but on the other foot, it's potentially more accurate a
test to make everyone think they're going to die. |
|
| |
Hmmm. A toughy. Plus the incentive has to icentivise everyone in
the building, whereas I would assume directors and management
would be less inclined to hurtle out of the office for some free
Haagen Dazs vouchers. |
|
| |
What about a *bad* odour? Regardless of the complacency of the individual, there would be motivation to leave. There would be no desensitising of responses to actual smoke. This idea came to me a few moments ago when, err, never mind. |
|
| |
We have to do weekly fire drills, and they are run much like this. A smoke machine is put in the position of the fire and left to run. When the smoke detectors go off the drill starts. Anyone trying to walk through a smoke filled space gets 'killed' and has to be rescued. It's amazing how people will blindly follow their normal exit routes even if they are full of smoke. We do use a flashing light for the fire, but it's blue, and the fake smoke doesn't smell anything like real smoke. |
|
| |
I definately recommend this for office fire drills, it would make people think properly about how they would get out if their normal route was on fire. Have a flame grilled bun. |
|
| |
Good idea - better evaluation of emergency situations. |
|
| |
Bad idea - people will become blasé about smelling smoke |
|
| |
Good idea - do it very rarely |
|
| |
Bad idea - any real (or real-to-the-participants) emergency
evacuation involves a risk of injury, especially if there's a
crush at the badly-designed exit you were trying to
evaluate. |
|
| |
I agree with [Sir Masspiller] - let people know it's a drill,
but offer bonuses for rapid response. Strong incentive,
but not enough to cause a stampede. |
|
| |
//Bad idea - people will become blasé about smelling smoke// Not if it was merely malodorous and not smoke, like a... errr, never mind. |
|
| |
Yes, but I thought the idea as posted was to make people
think the fire was real? Or did I misunderhend? |
|
| |
The idea, as it was proposed, was for people to take drills more seriously. Faux smoke was suggested to "light a fire", so to speak, under those who exihibit a certain lassitude to the drill bit (also so to speak). Concerns of desensitisation to an actual event were raised. |
|
| |
The introduction of a good reason not to be there (malodorous environ) was introduced to provide those not inclined to perform with a path of least resistance. |
|
| |
I'm not so sure that people wouldn't desensitize to bad smell, farmers and such are around all sorts of bad smelling things and they get used to it. |
|
| |
That's true, but [4whom] is saying they wouldn't be desensitised to the smell of smoke specifically, which is the key worry. |
|
| |
Brilliant. I'd buy it. Reasonably priced. [+] |
|
| |
//Do those movie FX flame throwers not still throw flames? //
Yes.
So? |
|
| |
Are they hot flames? Ones that have a tendency to burn things? |
|
| |