tom169

Not sure if it's a thing here, but in the UK it's mandated for offices to have fire wardens. That was a fun training day of setting off fire extinguishers.

Pulaski

Yeah, it is, I used to be one, as I was in London. Training and responsibilities in both countries focussed on evacuation and clearing the building.

chawkins99

Well, in England, it took you 45 minutes to find the only available space. You're not about to spend another 45 minutes in the hope of finding one slightly closer to your next port of call.

Signs pointing to "Historic Downtown" when there's probably nothing more than 50 years old there.

The idea that a 38 year-old home is considered 'old'.


I was shocked by the lack of professional courtesy. Regularly, while in a one-on-one business meeting, people would just walk in and interrupt without a second thought.

dc koop

Earthquake training here. Finding and knowing the best place to shelter as soon as it starts

steveq

I was shocked while attending a lecture by a world famous scientist at Penn State to find people wandering in and out, and then at the end of the lecture, when the floor opens to brief questions, there was a stampede to leave. It was unbelievably rude, and the Indian academics who were heads of the relevant departments were also aghast.

mrken30

Drop, Cover and H̶o̶l̶d̶ Hope for the best

scrubbedexpat091

All this training for workplace violence, earthquakes etc must be for professional jobs.

Had no idea companies did such things nor have I ever experienced this sort of training.

But companies rarely care about the front line folk.

BubbleChog

When Mr Chog and I were looking at houses we looked at some in a "historic neighbourhood" the estate agent holding the open house was very eager to tell me, quite proudly, that the house was nearly 100 years old.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that nearly all the houses I lived in while I lived in the UK were that old or older

markonline1

I was a fire trainer at Heathrow. Part of my training was spending a day with the airport fire service, where they stuck us in full gear, filled the training aircraft with thick smoke, took us inside then told us to find our way out. Great fun!

Pulaski

I get the impression that the US got a lot more interested after 9/11. In the buildings I have worked in the twice-annual drills are mandated by the local fire marshall and are supervised by the fire department. If someone has decided they aren't going to bother with the evacuation drill and refuses to leave the building, I was told that the employer gets fined.

tom169

That does sound fun!

Mine was a little less extreme... Classroom and then fire extinguishers with no fire as the city prohibited purposely lighting the fire outside the office.

scrubbedexpat091

Haven't done a fire drill since elementary school. Lol

Maybe hotels and airports were exempt or there was no legal requirement in the city's I worked in.

We had fire tests in which fire systems were inspected and tested but no drills where you left the building.

Interesting how these things are done in workplaces.

mrken30

I got NVQ in fire training, great fun using hydrants and hoses. Of all the useless qualifications.

dc koop

Trouble is the darn things always seem to happen in the dead of night. I keep a pair of shoes handy by the bed in case of broken glass.

Teckelspass

To be fair, on your last item in the list, I find BA to be the same if not worse than US legacy airlines. Which doesn't mean the U.S. airlines are great....