Hi

I have a client who runs a medium sized retail outlet/supermarket. He is concerned that running fire drills will affect trade and as such our first drill was on a Sunday afternoon after the store had closed and involved family and friends of the company. It was a bit wooden and didn't really work.

So options;

a, run the drill in a quiet time, 2.00 pm or so, and offering vouchers for customers who are inconvenienced

b, run the drill as above but just tell customers it was a false alarm...

thoughts?

Cheers

Steve

A full fire evacuation drill will be done about once annually so it is unlikely to affect trade that much. The purpose of the drill is to train the staff what to do in the event of a fire in the premises and how to evacuate the customers’ safety so having the drill in a quiet time, 2.00 pm or so on a Sunday, seems reasonable for training purposes. I would not lie to them I would tell them exactly what you have done and why. If you wish to reward then for their understanding then that is up to the owner and I would imagine they would be asking when the next fire drill is. :)