Archived Why doesn't Target do safety drills?

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I've worked at Target for 5 years and I have never seen a fire drill, storm drill, or safety drill at the store I work at. I've always been curious about that. I mean there is a diagram in the break room where we are supposed to go but that's about it. It just doesn't seem very smart and definitely not compliant with OSHA regulations. I worked in a factory for two summers in 2004 and 2007 and we would have fire drills at least once a week. I mean yeah, I get that it would be impossible to do them when the store is open but they could be done after close or before opening. It's not the end of the world. I'm just genuinely curious.
 
That's honestly a good question, that I can't answer. I know we had a LOT of discussion about fire safety and what to do when the store next to us had a minor fire.

My area has been hit with major weather and other events recently (Hurricane Sandy, Irene, Snowmageddon in December 2010, Snowmageddon round 2 in early 2011, and the snow this year in February). The snow prompted a LOT of discussion about what to do if the store closes, how to check if the store is closed, etc.

Every so often, at the evening huddles, someone from AP comes by and talks about what happens in the case of a robbery or something like that.
 
I'm not an expert on anything but it would just seem smart or wise to have a drill once a month and somehow have it twice that day. There could be one before the store opened which could accommodate team members that work early and there could be one after the store closed for closers. I would rate my store probably a 6 or 7 when it comes to safety. The backroom would probably get a lot of OSHA violations in my opinion.
 
Good question.
Short answer, I don't know.
Best guess, they don't want to spend the time and money.
 
I have never seen any shopping business conduct fire drills. I guess its to prevent panic/mobbing.

I have heard stories where people would purposely throw fire alarms, and while people are leaving, they walk out with merchandise or purses.
 
I have never seen any shopping business conduct fire drills. I guess its to prevent panic/mobbing.

Pretty much this. Factories can schedule workload around drills because they don't have non-employees milling around. Retail doesn't have that option.

Doing a drill before opening sounds great and all but stores have minimum coverage at 8am and after closing, none of the lower level employees are going to take it seriously. They just want to go home. My store did a couple unannounced code red drills in the first couple of years we were open, it didn't fly well with the guests when they saw half a dozen employees running to a section of the store carrying fire extinguishers.
 
one time the fire alarm went off at my store when i was at a register cashiering and 99% of the store's employees didn't know what to do including AP. It was a false alarm (i guess a customer backed into an emergency exit door and caused it to go off when it opened). The STL/LOD went to guest services to disable the alarm and the fire department showed up and everything. all we have is a desginated meet up spot outside of the store in the case of an emergency.
 
I would say 1/3 of my store is above a parking garage. One day someone called in a bomb threat saying there was a bomb in the garage. LOD called alert one and we had a meeting in the other side of the store in the backroom. He basically told us to stay away from the area above the garage. Didn't mention anything to guests. Imagine the PR nightmare if a bomb really did explode.
 
I was upstairs when an Ikea had a real fire alarm issue downstairs in their cafe thing there.

Ye gads.... took me awhile to figure out what was going on because after the first, "Ignore it" - they started evacuation messages... every time I went under a speaker it was in a language that wasn't English. The employees guided us out and no one panicked - but i was happy it was 7pm mid-week and not the weekend!
 
The only drill we did was about a couple months ago for earthquakes. We were suppose to protect ourselves under the bulk steel. Other than telling us to cover neck and drop to the ground there was no direction what the procedure is.
 
The only drill we did was about a couple months ago for earthquakes. We were suppose to protect ourselves under the bulk steel. Other than telling us to cover neck and drop to the ground there was no direction what the procedure is.

Bulk steel is the last place I'd be hiding during an earthquake. Ive seen people hit that with the crown so many times. Not to mention the flexing involved when you put heavy pallets on it.
 
I see the whole "they don't want to do it because of money and time" as being lazy and basically dangerous. Shouldn't people know what to do and where to go in case of a fire or some other type of emergency? One of the things that I despise about the store I work is the laziness and utter stupidity. I mean I don't like working at Target but I'm not gonna be lazy and stupid at a job even if I hate it. There are idiots in the backroom that take close up the ladders and lean the up against the walls and they will definitely fall on someone if something hits it. I always worry about that when the stupid FDC truck comes on and clueless grocery team members get really close to hitting the ladders. In the past, I would put the ladders together so they wouldn't fall on me or anyone and keep them out of the way but some idiot usually just undoes what I did so it's pointless. The backroom of the store I work at is a joke. Team members break merchandise leave it on the ground by the line or by the balers or somewhere in the back. They don't care. I mean is it that hard to pick something up and take it to defectives? If you make a mess, it's your responsibility to clean it up.
 
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