Code words?

[kitlane]

I wouldn't have thought you wood get many 'bombs' in theatre. But then again I dont work in the industry yet.

 

So im just wondering do you get many threats etc?

We've had to evacuate due to a bomb threat. A suspicious package was found in the bar. The police came. They called the bomb squad who took it away. Afterwards we were told it was a very good fake. It certainly wasn't just someones shopping or a joke stick of dynamite. It was meant to look like the real thing. And of course who was to know it wasn't.

[the kid]

Yeh the commons was a mess no one should of been allowed out of that room and the as a further strong hold no one in or out os the houses of parliment.

[robloxley]

I think a very good example of how emergency procedures fall apart in the heat of the moment is the incident in the Commons a couple of days ago.

 

As I understand it, the correct procedure was for everyone to stay in the chamber until instructed and yet, at the sign of danger, they did exactly the opposite. And these aren't your average joe-public, these are (despite what we may think of them), for the most part, highly intelligent professionals.

Surely the comparisson is that actors or audience won't necessarily have read the evacuation instructions / emergency action plan - at least we have stewards FOH and stage managers who should have done.

[Jivemaster]

You get Bombs anywhere, I was in central Birmingham when the pub bombs went off (70's) and in Soho when the pub in old Compton street was bombed. And these were real explosions not hoaxes or suspicious parcels.

 

Chris Higgs has a point, a good one. The LICENSE HOLDER of any venue has the responsibility to design and implement all the procedures, and you have a responsibility to know and understand and implement the procedures.

All venues should have a means of communicating critical instructions without raising panic in the assembled public. This will likely mean the use of code words or phrases. If your license holder delegates part of a task to you then do it to the best of your knowlege and check back with them to see that all parts of all procedures fit in theory then try a response practise -- see if they really do work.

[Brian]

at least we have stewards FOH and stage managers who should have done

I'd be interested to see how many FOH staff carry out the plan in a real emergency.

[Jivemaster]

No-one knows how thy will behave in a true and critical emergency (cf the survivers reports from the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise. ) Aircrew and airline cabin crew are drilled in PROCEDURES for various alerts then selected for their ability to perform their part in those procedures.

 

venues need the corresponding procedures to get and keep their license, These should be tried out and rehearsed.

 

Venues such as Schools usually have an assumed license for school productions. the same procedures should be in force and the same practise alerts,

[Matt]

yeah, I work at a school and before every production starts we get told the plan for a fire escape etc... and then before the actual show starts the head of department gets outo n stage with a mic and announces the positions of fire exits etc... and what to do, and who to report to if they see/smell anythign fire-ly like.

 

though a majority of the public it probably just goes straight over their heads.

[Ben...]

Nice to see Bristol Uni borrowing documentation from Bath Uni's Website... Mr. Mayo was a real person at Bath and the code word was created in honour of his graduation.

How long ago was that? I believe that the Bristol use of Mr Mayo started popping up around the time when some Bristol university crew were involved in the Bath festival (quite) a few years back

[Mush]

Interesting thing about people is that they like familiarity, and in an emergency will head out the way they came in, even if this is not their nearest exit, its been the death of a few.

 

Lesson from history, trying to dig up all the details on The Great Lafayette, highest paid performer of his day, he is planted with his dog Beauty down the road from me,but that is another story.

 

The Great Lafayette, perished along with 6 other people in a fire at the Edinburgh Empire Theatre, now rebuilt as the Festival Theatre, in 1908. Fire started by practical lantern setting fire to unproofed softs used for set decor.Lafayette intially escaped the blaze but returned into building to rescue people and animals, he didn`t make it back out.

 

Of the other people killed 2 were within 12 feet of an exit, but round a corner, but as the enquiry later reported, being part of The Great Lafayette`s touring company they were unfamiliar with the backstage layout and became disorientated and overcome by smoke.

 

It`s funny when Spinal Tap can`t find the stage, just be sure when your out and about you can find the exit....

[mikienorth]

I know its a dead topic but I used to install fire alarms...

Modern systems (all first leisure venues and the ones they owned in the late nineties) had, for the time a kick ass system.

When one sensor detects a fire it sets off alarms (discreet ones) in staff only areas for 90 seconds.

The control and repeat panels tell anyone who checks exactly where the fire (or over enthuisiastic use of a fogger) has been located.

Those 90 seconds give the staff time to prepare to evacuate, and also time to check there really is a fire.

At the same time this happens the air conditioning shuts down, or moves to extract only, and grilles in the wall are sealed too, all by a fire alarm.

After 90 seconds, if the panel hasn't been told to shut up and stop lying (thankfully nearly always the case) then:

The music stops

The house lights go on

The LX rig stops

Fire doors close automatically

Any exit doors locked for security reasons (they pass through cash rooms/beer cellars/spirit stores) unlock, this is a fail safe system.

The fire brigade are automatically called

And, finally, a digitally pre recorded message is broadcast through two separate systems to the house PA, at large levels, enough to cause pain anyway sying

'In the interests of safety, please leave the building by the nearest available exit, follow the directions of staff'

Also, if more than one detector sees a fire, then the 90 seconds grace is ignored and it goes right for the bugger this its burning stage.

If a break glass is pressed, and believe me, its all it takes is a little press, then the alarm empties the gig straight away (none of these tend to be in public areas anymore, you can't trust drunk people not to press a glass box cos its funny (its funnier if you have a test key, they cant find a broken one and then they panic, my drunken youth...))

And, to go on, all this happens in a 800x800 box you know, the detection in the main venue is isolated nightly on a timer to prevent smokers and foggers causing false alarms, and can only be done so, along with critical systems to open a venue being turned over, by pacing all chiains and padlocks from your exit doors into a box full of series switches, if one chain is missing you can't open.

one more point.

Large complexes even fail to set off an alarm in different areas if the fire event is a certain distance away, or does not harm evacuation proceedings (piers, fire at land end = big problem, fire at sea end = not so big a problem)

With systems like this, the need for code words is reduced some, at least for a fire, for a suspicious package, or a sierra if you work where I do, c'mon guess the word for fire, I dare ya! then a fancy pants alarm isn't much good till its too late.

 

but, more and more venues have a fancy pants alarm. every hotel of size and note does now, how do you think they know it was you smoking in your room and not the guy next door?

chain nightclubs (my above example) are set up like this, even your humble city centre ikea filled posh chain pub gets this sort of treatment now.

 

the old days, when I used to do real work (on building sites) are far gone, for a land of worse hours, worse money but more enjoyment.

[andy_s]

On September 5th it will be the 117th anniversary of the Exeter Theatre Fire, in which many people lost their lives. This incident was one of the major factors in recognising the need to formulate the safety standards and protocols which we adhere to today. There's a book calle (surprisingly ) The Exeter Theatre Fire, available from The Entertainment Technology bookshop. There used to be a copy in the control room at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, which made interesting reading during those quiet shows....

[Ben...]

The music stops

The house lights go on

The LX rig stops

Fire doors close automatically

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's even more fun with fire suppression... you have an additional 90 seconds to get out, otherwise there's a very loud bang, your eardrums burst, and the room fills with Inergen

 

And the smoke alarms are these magical vesda jobbies, which are sensitive enough to tell the difference between tobacco smoke, solder fumes, burning insulation, and full on fire. No idea how that works.

 

One thing I've always wondered; in those oh-so-reliable documentaries produced by Hollywood (known colloquially as 'movies,') they always show sprinklers going off all together. But whenever I've looked at sprinkler heads, it looks like they've all got independent little glass bulbs, which aren't rigged to go off altogether. So if I hold a lighter under one, the whole lot won't go off... will they?

[Jivemaster]

Makes a change from a venue I played that said no smoking do not use vacuum cleaners or brush the floor (dust triggered alarm) do not make toast or use electric convector heaters (the smell of burned dust triggered the alarms)

[sam.henderson]

I have just got back from holiday and on thew way out I was in heathrow airport when the fire alarm went off, a loud siren went off and then a message something like "due to unforseen circumstances it will be necessary to evacuate this area (this was pritty much all of duty free and departures) please follow staffs directions", at this point I wasnt worried becuase I expected the staff to have a perfect plan (now we are at such a threat from terorists and all). Well this was certainly not the case, some staff were panacing and running arround shouting into radios while others were sitting arround smoking fags. None knew what to do or where to send us, in the end lots of people ended up out on the tarmac whilst other were left walking arround the airport on a wild goosechase. It was a complete sham. Another thing I noticed was that the announcement to evacuate was only played out in english, well what about all the travellers there who dont speak our language??

 

In the end everyone was pulled back in off the tarmac and there was an appologie announcemnet saying that all had now been resolved.

 

Sam

[SparkySteve]

And the smoke alarms are these magical vesda jobbies, which are sensitive enough to tell the difference between tobacco smoke, solder fumes, burning insulation, and full on fire. No idea how that works.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

We had one of these installed in my old place... back up north like y'know!... anyway, it measures the particle size of the smoke... tobacco and haze fluid etc all have really small particles where-as smoke from a genuine fire has big n chunky buggers. (I think thats the right way round) so it's geet clever how it measures it, but not too sure how it works out the sizes etc.

 

prehaps the instal guys amongst us might have a clue....

 

 

(forgive the outbreaks of northerness, can't control it sometimes.... its like a disease!)