Horizon:How to Survive a Disaster

[DGP1]

It's on BBC2 now it might be interesting to any H&S reps. out there.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Also available for next 14 days (I think) on BBC I Player - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... _Disaster/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DGP1]

The bit that I found really shocking was that most people don't react to life threatening situations but instead don't believe it'll affect them so I thought about how I would react and shockingly I wouldn't think it'll affect me so I would rush to do anything, just think of the last time the fire alarm went off in any of you offices and how you reacted to it, did you leave immediately by the nearest exit of did you (and everyone else) look around wondering what you should do . It makes me realise that the fire alarm means leave the building immediately without stopping to collect anything and that we should get proper drills in work the reinforce the rules (I've only had one in 6 years and even then it was the usual getting coat, lifting keys and making sure eveyone else was leaving ).

[TrueBlueTerrier]

That is a good point disgruntled - The answer is to keep doing it till the response is second nature.

The forces use that technique so that when you are given a command you do not question it and carry out the action without thinking about it too much.

They also do it for various "Immediate Action" drills, such as when you get a bomb threat, when approached by someone carrying a gun, when a nuke goes off etc. The idea is the same, if RM held fire alarm practices more often then your action to the alarm would be quicker and therefore safer. But as it costs money ................................

[DGP1]

If there was a fire in an office and people died because they were unsure of what to do then that would cost more than the cost of a weekly fire drill, the example given in the film was the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers whenever people didn't know what to do, they gathered in groups to discuss what they should do (or phoned each other) but one of the companies had regular drills so they all knew what to do and how to do it and as a result most of them survived.

[General Mannerheim]

It was a decent programme,I liked the bit where they had a guy strapped into a harness testing shoes on work surfaces,they added some water and then tilted the surface till he slipped then recorded it..oh to have sent him my Magnum super non slip shoes.
It was also interesting how many deaths there are through falls far higher than car accidents.