Posted By fats van den raad Colin I have never let employees in general know about a drill in advance. What I have done is to let key people know, and then use those people to role-play casualties, or to help monitor the evacuation for potential improvements. Employees in general only know the time and day of regular weekly alarm tests to wich they don't have to respond.

Posted By Laurie When I was in FE I used to run three a year (one per academic session) over six campuses - 18 in all. They were always absolutely no notice - I would just turn up and ask the janitor to sound the alarm. The only concessions I would make was that I would always choose a dry (but necessarily sunny and warm!) day, I would check that the Principal did not have any important meetings e.g. Funding Council or major sponsors, and I would sometimes take a mobility impaired student into my confidence and ask them to note how they were dealt with. I would also warn the kitchen supervisor that he/she could leave one safety monitor in the kitchen. We used fire marshalls, and as far as I am aware there was never any case of a person being left in a building. Warning people about fire drills breeds complacency and routine. Real fires are never routine. Laurie