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listersgirlWould you trust me with your life?
Yeah, I didn't think so. Some people apparently feel different, though, because I've been made a fire warden at work. Of course, I'm pretty sure this has to do with the fact that I'm friends with someone in Health, Safety and Environment - I'm quite certain that she saw the gap in her 2nd floor fire warden list and figured I'd be an easy target.
My first official duty was to attend first aid training a couple of months ago. One of the benefits of working for a big organization is that everything is very official - I had expected to be in a room with a couple of other people and a video, or possibly some random staffer who read through the booklet. Instead, we got full-on St. John Ambulance training from an intense and dedicated woman with a brush-cut and a barking laugh. And she was mean! She killed off our imaginary co-workers whenever we made a mistake. No mercy, I tell you. But it was kind of fun...back there in the distant recesses of my memory. Because, you know, I've forgotten everything. I have a vague picture of myself always turning my face toward the chest when giving mouth-to-mouth so that I could multitask, but I'm not quite sure what happens after that. I do remember that we got certificates at the end, which I'm going to hide so that no one ever thinks I know anything in case of emergency.
Still, I hadn't actually had any fire warden training, and I really had no idea what I was supposed to do - what areas I was responsible for, did I need to report to someone, what exactly the various different alarms meant. And, as expected, the alarm went off at least twice in that window between my being being named and my actually learning what exactly being a fire warden meant.
The training itself was amusing. There were the expected videos - the overacted evacuation video that all new employees are supposed to watch that describes the complicated system of multi-level alarms in the building, the video on fire safety with the incredibly bad special effects. There was a looong discussion (read: bitch session) about the fact that people won't leave the studios during a fire drill, and a very complication and exhausting session of What if? (What if it's the weekend, and there are no fire wardens on my floor? What if I'm in the bathroom when the alarm goes? What if I'm on another floor and it's winter and I don't have my coat? What if I apparently have no brain and can't make any decisions for myself?) Then we had Captain Someoneorother from the fire department come in to talk to us. He was filming his little talk, so it was very junior high debate team. He came complete with props, including a stove, and pots, and fake fire that he turned on through remote control. Cheesy, I tell you, but also amusing. And finally, in the end, we got to go outside and play with fire extinguishers, although they didn't give us real fire to put out. Meanies.
But now I'm all official - I have the special fire warden phone key, the fluorescent orange armband, and the power to report naughty on-air people who won't leave during fire drills. I also, thankfully, have someone else in my department who is also a fire warden, because I'm sure I'll have forgotten what to do by the time the alarm goes off again.
Yeah, I didn't think so. Some people apparently feel different, though, because I've been made a fire warden at work. Of course, I'm pretty sure this has to do with the fact that I'm friends with someone in Health, Safety and Environment - I'm quite certain that she saw the gap in her 2nd floor fire warden list and figured I'd be an easy target.
My first official duty was to attend first aid training a couple of months ago. One of the benefits of working for a big organization is that everything is very official - I had expected to be in a room with a couple of other people and a video, or possibly some random staffer who read through the booklet. Instead, we got full-on St. John Ambulance training from an intense and dedicated woman with a brush-cut and a barking laugh. And she was mean! She killed off our imaginary co-workers whenever we made a mistake. No mercy, I tell you. But it was kind of fun...back there in the distant recesses of my memory. Because, you know, I've forgotten everything. I have a vague picture of myself always turning my face toward the chest when giving mouth-to-mouth so that I could multitask, but I'm not quite sure what happens after that. I do remember that we got certificates at the end, which I'm going to hide so that no one ever thinks I know anything in case of emergency.
Still, I hadn't actually had any fire warden training, and I really had no idea what I was supposed to do - what areas I was responsible for, did I need to report to someone, what exactly the various different alarms meant. And, as expected, the alarm went off at least twice in that window between my being being named and my actually learning what exactly being a fire warden meant.
The training itself was amusing. There were the expected videos - the overacted evacuation video that all new employees are supposed to watch that describes the complicated system of multi-level alarms in the building, the video on fire safety with the incredibly bad special effects. There was a looong discussion (read: bitch session) about the fact that people won't leave the studios during a fire drill, and a very complication and exhausting session of What if? (What if it's the weekend, and there are no fire wardens on my floor? What if I'm in the bathroom when the alarm goes? What if I'm on another floor and it's winter and I don't have my coat? What if I apparently have no brain and can't make any decisions for myself?) Then we had Captain Someoneorother from the fire department come in to talk to us. He was filming his little talk, so it was very junior high debate team. He came complete with props, including a stove, and pots, and fake fire that he turned on through remote control. Cheesy, I tell you, but also amusing. And finally, in the end, we got to go outside and play with fire extinguishers, although they didn't give us real fire to put out. Meanies.
But now I'm all official - I have the special fire warden phone key, the fluorescent orange armband, and the power to report naughty on-air people who won't leave during fire drills. I also, thankfully, have someone else in my department who is also a fire warden, because I'm sure I'll have forgotten what to do by the time the alarm goes off again.
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 12:41 pm (UTC)Your firewardening procedures RULE.
First Aid
Date: 2003-08-26 03:45 pm (UTC)I too couldn't remember much, especially the proper numbers of compressions to breaths one is supposed to do for adult, child and infant. So I signed up for a City of Etobicoke Civil Servants course. I was one of only a handful of outsiders there.
Our instructor was very nice and funny, and - Eeee! - reminded me a lot of Claudia Christian, so she had my full attention. I'm glad I did it though.
Re: First Aid
Date: 2003-08-27 12:20 pm (UTC)