I would see this as a warning sign that they are potentially not competent as Trainers/facilitators altogether not just evacuation.

Thank you for your comments. There was no facilities management team as the consultation took place in a church hall and they could not get hold of the caretaker. I would have thought that the facilitators of this meeting who were public councillors and housing developers who were used to public speaking etc would know what to do.

“I would have thought that the facilitators of this meeting who were public councillors and housing developers who were used to public speaking etc. would know what to do.” Why? Assuming things is where we go wrong. Common sense is not that common: what makes perfect sense to you does not necessarily make sense to anybody else. Do the general public know what to do if there is a gas leak? Do they know who to call? “It includes clear instruction for evacuation, their responsibilities and what they can and can’t do when on site. They don’t like it but tough luck!” Ideally we’d have some sort of policy that everyone signs up to but what does yours include. I can guess most people include what to do if a fire alarm goes off but what about a gas leak? A bomb threat? A chemical leak? Protesters outside the building?

"We just dont allow people onto our site to do or act as they want. They must comply with our policies." No doubt you do. Question was more of a rhetorical one: how extensive are the procedures? Do they deal with all eventualities? The original poster seemed to assume that as the people concerned were sensible adults ie ”public councillors and developers” they would know instinctively what the correct procedure would be. it's not like that in real life

We have a significant set of emergency response procedures and staff are fairly well versed in what to do in most cases. But it's those incidents which fall into the gap between 'obvious emergency' and 'non emergency' (seen perhaps just a building defect) that we still haven't cracked. Two incidents spring to mind: 'An odd smell - perhaps drains' was reported to FM. 10 mins later, the UPS room next door burst into flames. Staff in the office who reported the drains smell later said they thought it could have been a burning small but didn't want to make a fuss by operating the fire alarm!! But my favourite was a cloud of dust from a package when it was opened in our mail area - this followed a Police warning six months before that we were at risk of a 'mail attack'. The mail room worker did not recognise the grey dust as suspicious as he was expecting any threat to be white dust!!! (God knows why?). So he carried the package through three floors to the waste skip spreading the contamination over an area perhaps 50 x bigger than it should have been Its human nature not to initially see something as urgent and serious as it is - denial if you like. We have spent lots of money on procedures, staff comms and training - but I don't think we are any nearer solving this issue. Any idea???

Did anyone ring the gas safety line? Quote: "Gas Helpline,emergency numbers,carbon monoxide poisoning,gas leaks, If you smell gas or are worried about gas safety, you can call 0800 111 999 at any time, day or night. Your call will not cost you anything." Or if there was risk of harm, the fire brigade / emergency services?

Go and stand at the back of the class Stevie. This is a serious discussion (but you did make me chuckle!!) :)