Posted By Ron Young Colleagues, I've just completed a review of our fire and emergency plans and I am looking at changing our proposed method of alerting office based staff of a potential terrorist/bomb threat. Thoughts that come to mind are issuing wardens with pagers and for them to relay messages, installing tannoy systems, e mail alerts, however they all have drawbacks. Can I ask for comments on what you propose to do and how effective your systems appear. Currently we had aimed to use the fire alarm system but this is not acceptable in my mind.

Posted By Robert K Lewis Amanda In bomb threat procedures however we need to ensure people remove their personal effects from the building - totally the opposite of a fire where it is essential people leave quickly. Use of the fire alarm, particularly linked to the Fire Station will trigger the presence of the Fire Service - While necessary post event they will not do more than stand off from the location and await police/bomb disposal decisions. Ron I think your pager idea is the strongest as it enables key staff to get together and make decisions about how the situation is managed. This applies to any emergency such as gas escape, flooding, bomb threat etc but as I say not to fire. Some fire systems can be set for twin alarms with an alternative one not linked to the fire service but these I think tend to panic people more than an orderly evacuation removing personal effects. The procedure does need to be detailed but also subject to dynamic assessment. Let me know if I can help further. Bob

Posted By Darren J Fraser I can see both of the arguments here. Ron does not feel that the fire alarm is acceptable, and I can see why he is saying that in the context of a terrorist activity (set sound level activated IED for example),in a fire situation, you would want doors and windows shut, but in a bomb situation, ideally you would want them open However, I can also see why Amanda disagrees, with a valid point about the fire alarm sound is known, and second or different sound could lead to confusion. There is not a correct or even universally accepted protocol. I would suggest if you have no done so alreadynthat you contact your local constabulary (anti terrorist unit representative)and ask for their advice. Also visit the MI5 website which has some guidance on it as well. But do remember it is only advice, at the end of the day you must be comfortable with you plan and how you arrived at the final concept. You will find that there are conflicting views on this particular subject matter, and as I have already stated there is not a definitive right or wrong, you have to base you thought process on the level of risk to your business and processes, the current threat level to your business (if a big name player with a presence in a hostile environment, your threat level will be higher than a big name player with no presence in a hostile environment), and then the balance of probability comes in to the equation. Regularly review, at least twice a year. Also carry out desktop simulations and dry runs. Do not forget to include visitors and contractors. Think about the amount of detail that you need to release to members of staff, e.g. does everyone need to know where the secondary assembly point is situated or can that be restricted to certain members/levels of management ? How are you going to ensure that any secondary assembly point is clear ? Do you evacuate or stay inside ? Who assumes control, especially when senior management are not available ? Who will deal with the media ? (may need specific training) How will you inform your neighbours ? (depending how big an organisation you are and your neighbours you could be looking at large numbers of persons being involved). What impact would an event have on the local community, economy, your suppliers and your customers ? What is your back up (business continuity) plan if the worse should happen, and where is that information kept ? How are you going to deal with anyone suffering post traumatic stress ? (have you arranged or at the very least got contact details for counsellors) Hope the above is of some use to you.

Posted By Robert K Lewis There are various government and Police guidance documents on the web. These all reccomend that wherever possible people remove their personal effects as it makes a building search for suspect packages much easier. I accept that long traverses need to be avoided but this does not negate the general principles involved. The guidance materials I have read are all clear that the fire procedure is not the best choice. People are more likely to panic at fires than a threat which is not necessarily immediate. Surprisingly bomb threat messages do tend to give a time period for evacuation. The terrorist is a different matter and active security is the only defence by preventing their access to premises. Bomb threat procedures cannot deal with this aspect, it is again totally different - Would you want to sound a fire alarm however to that might direct people to the danger zone? Bob

Posted By anon1234 I have feeling this was discussed before on this forum way back. However, as some of the respondants have identified, using the fire alarm system for things such as 'bomb alerts' is totally the wrong approach as the required emergency plans and thus action should be different (except for a few minor exceptions). For example the answer to a bomb alert might in fact be a need not to evacuate the building or not to evacuate it in the same way as for a fire e.g. potential car bomb located near the main entrance/exit to the building. A review of the bomb (and other) threats should take place and measures established to cater for such scenarios. I have done this at numerous buildings in the past and I can assure you the evacuation (or in some cases non evacuation) plans are completely different to the fire scenario. Re: the original question (if I can remember it) - I have certainly employed tannoy systems at some sites as this gives the option of instructing staff what to do / where to go / etc. but this has alos been coupled with training the fire wardens in what we expeected them to do in such scenarios as it is always useful to have a number of people assisting in such an event

Posted By Steve Cartwright It will depend on how many people you have in each building. I would go for the fire alarm system. Alarm goes off every one gets out no fuss. Most people will pick up their belongings anyway, especially if their bags are on their desks. Imagine if you have a call centre environment where you could have anything from 10 to 100+ people working on a floor. Now imagine you have half a dozen fire wardens walking round asking people to evacuate the building. First thing staff will ask is why? Then fire warden says "DON'T BE ALARMED BUT THERE MIGHT BE A BOMB IN THE BUILDING. DON'T PANIC AND LEAVE THE BUILDING IN AN ORDERLY FASHION VIA THE NEAREST EXIT". Can you picture 100+ people walking out in a nice orderly fashion once they have been told of the bomb threat. If you can you have more faith than me. Steve

Posted By peter gotch and even if the nature of the building is such that evacuation is the appropriate course of action, it may be that it is better to evacuate through side exits rather than out the front door to where the lorry with bomb is parked. also, it may be appropriate to go to an alternate assembly point e.g. further away. Regards, Peter

Posted By Stephen P In the world of football, in the event of a bomb scare we have a PA System over ride in the Stadium Control Room. The first message is to announce to stewards to be radio silent in case this may trigger something. Anyone know whether this makes pagers a bad idea?

Posted By Ian P I worked in a large shop in Belfast a number of years ago. Furtunately we never had a real bomb incident but anonymous phone calls warning of the shop about to be turned in to a car park were a weekly occurrence. We had been advised never to use the fire alarm to evacuate the building and used the tannoy system. The warnings always started with "May I have your attention please" to avoid them getting mixed up with sales promotion. Staff and customers were so used to this that by the time they heard "May I have" they were on their way to the doors. Us junior management though had to stay inside and open understock drawers etc. for the police and then sit at a cashpoint until they gave the all clear. Now I would be out the door with the rest of them but then it was the done thing.

Posted By Tracey C My collegue and i had this very conversation only last week. We both disagree with each other i think we should use the fire alarm system as the students are used to the sound and evacuating the building and he thinks we should install a seperate system that sounds different and we should train staff to ensure the whole building is empty. As i complete the risk assessments for all staff i am concerned that we could be having staff trotting around a building that may have a bomb in it. I am glad to see there a difference of opinions here. T

Posted By Tabs Ron, you work in the financial sector, I know that most of the trading banks in London have well developed and well practiced procedures, and most of the Security Managers are only too willing to discuss and share. Nothing like seeing it first-hand, so why not give one of them a call and ask for a chat the next time you are down here? Let me know if you'd like an introduction.

Posted By Ron Young Yes please Tabs

Posted By Ron Young Done