Call centre evacuation injuries

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• The change added 140 workstations without a risk assessment, so the effect on escape routes was not considered.
• Boxes, chairs and cabling were placed in the corridor to the east stair, blocking an escape route.
• A partition hid the stair sign, which confused people who needed to find the way out.
• The fire marshals were not told, so they could not adapt their checks.
• The landlord was not consulted although it is responsible for the alarm and the stairs.
• The emergency plan and the drills were not amended for the new layout.
• Metro should have carried out a risk assessment before the change and involved competent people.
• Metro should have communicated and cooperated with everyone affected, including staff and the landlord.
• The number of people on the floor was increased, which increases the time needed to evacuate.
• The weekend work was done by the facilities team without a review of the work afterwards.
• Metro should have reviewed the change after it was finished and checked that routes were clear.
• Storage space should have been provided so that routes were not used for stores.

Marks counted: 0 of 12

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• Only 5 of 12 marshals remain and none work on floors 11 and 12, so the role is not covered where the incident began.
• Marshals had a 2 hour talk with no refresher or practical exercise, so they were not trained or competent.
• Drills are announced in advance, so they do not test a real reaction.
• Drills are held twice a year and are run by the landlord, so Metro does not control or learn from them.
• A time of 31 minutes to empty the floors is slow, but it was recorded as passed and no action followed.
• Floors 11 and 12 were left out of the last drill, so the changed layout was never tested.
• The drill before the last one is not recorded, so there is no evidence of testing.
• Nobody reviewed the record, so weaknesses were not found.
• The emergency plan is a one page poster that shows the stairs but not the assembly point.
• Agents wear headsets and may not hear the alarm while on a call, so the warning is ineffective.
• Team leaders were told not to stop calls, which delays evacuation.
• Agents fear losing the bonus if they leave their desks, which creates pressure to stay.
• There was a delay of about two minutes before team leaders told people to leave.
• No roll call or accounting for people is described, and 400 people entered the stairs at once.
• There is no provision described for people with disabilities who need help to evacuate.
• The door at floors 10 and 9 opened inwards, which is an escape route fault that nobody had checked.

Marks counted: 0 of 16

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• The bonus system rewards call volume and penalises long breaks, so it puts production before safety.
• Leaderboard screens increase pressure and competition between teams.
• Team leaders were told not to stop calls, so they learned that customers matter more than evacuation.
• Agents feared losing the bonus if they left their desks, which shows the culture rewards staying at work.
• Team leaders are promoted for performance and have little management training in safety.
• The OD ordered the reorganisation and did not think about safety, which sets an example for others.
• The OD blamed staff for panicking and the marshals for doing a poor job, which is a blame culture.
• High staff turnover and 12 hour shifts reduce experience and increase fatigue.
• Managers accept a drill result of passed even though the time was slow, which shows low commitment to safety.
• Fire marshals are volunteers who are not replaced, so the role is not valued.
• The poster and the lack of consultation show poor communication about safety.
• Peer influence: new staff copy others who stay on calls during alarms.
• Survey results about exhaustion and stress were not acted on.
• No indicators of the culture such as turnover, sickness and complaints are used by the OD.

Marks counted: 0 of 14

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• Treat the incident as a high level investigation because nine people were injured and many more were at risk.
• Make the area safe and care for the injured as an immediate step, including contacting their families.
• Report the injuries to the enforcement agency if national law requires it.
• Gather information such as statements from injured people, marshals, team leaders and the landlord.
• Take photographs and plans of the east stair corridor, the partition and the door that opened inwards.
• Collect documents such as the drill record, the marshals' training records, the emergency plan and the change records.
• Use CCTV and alarm logs to build a timeline of how long the evacuation took.
• Immediate cause: blocked corridor and an inward opening door led to crushing on the stairs.
• Underlying cause: no risk assessment for the reorganisation and no change management.
• Underlying cause: a poor emergency system, with few trained marshals and drills that did not test anything.
• Underlying cause: bonuses and targets that discouraged people from leaving their desks.
• Set an action plan with owners and dates and check that it is carried out.

Marks counted: 0 of 12

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• Verbal briefings at the start of a shift are quick and allow questions, but are easily forgotten and not recorded.
• Written procedures or emails give a permanent record, but may not be read by busy agents.
• Posters and floor plans that show routes and assembly points are quick to understand, but give limited detail.
• Signs on escape routes help people to find the way out, but fail if hidden by partitions or boxes.
• Visual alarms such as flashing beacons suit agents wearing headsets, which the siren alone does not.
• Headset announcements through the phone system reach agents on calls, but need testing.
• Training and drills allow people to practise, but take time away from calls.
• Using several methods together overcomes the limits of each one.
• New staff need an induction on emergency arrangements, given early because of the high turnover.
• Feedback from workers and marshals helps to check that the messages are understood.

Marks counted: 0 of 10

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• An audit is a systematic, independent and documented check of the management system against criteria.
• An inspection looks at physical conditions in an area.
• A regular inspection of floors 11 and 12 would have found the blocked corridor and the hidden sign.
• Inspections should use checklists and be done by competent people at regular intervals.
• Team leaders could be given a daily check of escape routes before the shift.
• An audit of the emergency system would have found marshal numbers and the drill weaknesses.
• An audit would show that the change procedure was missing.
• An internal audit is cheap and uses people who know the business, but may lack independence.
• An external audit is more objective and brings fresh ideas, but costs more.
• Leading indicators such as the number of marshals in place and the time to evacuate would show problems early.
• Reactive data such as near misses in earlier drills and false alarms should have been reviewed.
• Results should be reviewed by top management and actions tracked.

Marks counted: 0 of 12

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• Organisational: bonuses and targets discouraged leaving desks quickly.
• Organisational: long 12 hour shifts and stress cause fatigue and slower reactions.
• Organisational: poor communication of the plan, with only a poster and no assembly point.
• Job: wearing headsets made the alarm difficult to hear.
• Job: partitions hid the stair sign and boxes blocked the corridor, which made the task of finding the way out harder.
• Job: a large crowd on narrow stairs and an inward opening door created a hazard.
• Individual: new graduates with little experience of emergencies may not know what to do.
• Individual: a lack of training in marshal duties.
• Individual: people may have been reluctant to leave because they feared losing their bonus.
• Individual: risk perception, where people think alarms are usually false.
• People copy what others do, so when some carried on working, others delayed.
• Stress and pressure during the crowding increased the chance of pushing and falls.

Marks counted: 0 of 12

Tick each point that your answer made clearly and only once. Points here are this site's own. A real examiner may accept other valid points.

• Organisations that share a workplace have a responsibility to work together on health and safety issues (C155 Article 17).
• The landlord is responsible for the building's fire alarm and the stairs, and Metro for its own floors and staff.
• Metro should have told the landlord about the change in layout, and the landlord about changes to the alarm and the stairs.
• They should share risk assessments for fire and the evacuation of the whole tower.
• They should plan drills together that include all tenants and all floors.
• They should agree who raises the alarm, who calls the emergency services and who counts the people at the assembly point.
• They should check that the doors on the escape stairs open in the direction of escape.
• They should share information about incidents and false alarms to learn from them.
• They should agree how and when each other's workers are trained and who pays for it.
• Metro should check that the landlord maintains the alarm and emergency lighting.
• They should meet regularly and record what is agreed.
• Each party remains responsible for its own workers, so Metro cannot rely on the landlord alone.

Marks counted: 0 of 12