Those staying here were woken at 1:30 a.m., by sirens relayed over a loudspeaker. They were followed by a recorded announcement of a problem that was being investigated. This sequence was relayed over and over. Finally the sirens stopped. I drifted back to sleep, but was soon wide awake because of more sirens. They lasted a while and then stopped, thankfully.
While the situation was unsettling, I could easily have put it aside, had it not been for an almost the identical situation at the last conference I attended, only weeks ago. That was the Public Risk Management Association conference in Dallas.
There, all the rooms opened into a huge atrium, where in the early morning hours a siren blasted with a loud “warning, warning,” stating that a fire had been reported and all should evacuate.
In Dallas I went out onto the balcony, and saw just a handful of people on different levels peering down to the atrium area. Like me, they were looking for some kind of directions or indication of what to do. And nothing was going on at all. Nobody was leaving. Most important, no one was on hand to give any directions. After a while another announcement was made that everything was OK and there was no fire. When I went out for another look, I saw three firemen on the ground floor, and a half-dozen people wandering in from outside.
These events were in no way a reflection of the conferences. As for the hotels, however, I would say some additional risk management was in order.
One risk management expert I talked to here acknowledged that hotels are in a tough situation in cases such as these. While they want to give an early warning to people staying there, recorded messages played over and over tend to just make people complacent, he said. This can lead to other risks, should there really be a fire, not to mention the liability issues.
Instead, he said it would have been better to have a real voice, rather than a recording, explain what was happening in real time and also give updates. That way, people could be apprised of the situation and make decisions accordingly.
I was also talking to conference attendee Dennis Silvia, president of Cedar Consulting, about this. Dennis recalled a recent conversation with a former Israeli security expert, who commented on the lack of overall security in many hotels, especially in the U.S.
This expert, he said, explained that in Israel, for example, where hotels are sometimes targets for terrorists, a suitcase left in the middle of the lobby would not be tolerated. Citizens are so aware of their surroundings, that they quickly alert security of anything amiss. It’s a good guess that instances such as the one here last night, and in Dallas, would have been dealt with differently there.
My question is, was the handling of these two false alarms par for the course? And what kind of plans should be in place?
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Unfortunately, it is a standard event in most hotels. In some areas that have experienced events first hand, there are likely better systems in place. However, I would say that 90% of all hotels operate in this manner.
Also- travelers are largely unaware of their surroundings in a hotel. They have not looked at the evacuation routes, they don’t know where the exits come outside (sometimes they don’t even know where they are at all); they don’t pay attention to the floor plan so they know how to get to an exit when they are crawling along the floor in heavy smoke; they don’t touch the door to see if it is hot before they open it and they hang around waiting for information or something to happen (a sure plan for a bad ending).
Hotels for their part have limited security with limited training (if any at all) and many smaller properties have a night auditor working behind the counter in an office. That person has no training in security in most cases. Vehicles can be left unattended in close proximity to entrances; bags are left lying around in lobbies on a regular basis. Bags are checked at bell desks with almost no security scrutiny; non hotel guests have easy and open access to all floors and common areas; pool and play areas are easily accessed (tailgating thru gates) and guests in common areas are rarely challenged.
When we move a protectee to a hotel we frequently have to upgrade their security to protect our client, even in large properties. I have one local security director whose property is “gun free” to the point that our details are not allowed to have weapons. However, there is no way for this director to tell if folks have weapons or not because they do no screening and their access control is almost non existent.
Oh- and don’t assume that a law enforcement officer, SERT team or Fire Department team has ever been on the property prior to an event. They are as lost as you are.
What needs to be done is a whole other article!!!
There is a great deal I might write to explain why the circumstances are not handled as you might wish but I must submit that the bottom line is: What part of “Warning, Warning, a fire has been reported and you should evacuate immediately” do you and all those other risk management professionals not understand?
Here is an e-mail comment I received from Dick Main on the subject:
This also occurred at our NAMIC Convention a few years ago in Tampa. Without going through the details, The scenario was the same. If My company respnded to our clients, as the hotels repnded to theirs, we would definately be sued. I was surprised, when talking to the desk clerk afterwards, The lack of concern of the employees and the lack of information they would share. I looked through the lobby until I found the “manager’s” office. Through the window I could see them casually going about doing what ever they were doing. No one ever came to the rooms to indicate what the status of the “emergancy” was.
I have always checked out the emergency exits when staying at a high rise hotel. If I hear a fire alarm or warning, I respond ASAP according to a prearranged plan. I may feel foolish afterwards. But, what the heck, I can still feel.