Safety training is no laughing matter, but...
There was a reason why the Executive Chef laughed uncontrollably during mandatory training.
One of the greatest privileges of my corporate career, was to meet so many, exceptionally talented people around the world that dedicated their working lives to hospitality.
They worked long hours. They worked weekends. They worked nights. They worked holidays.
They do this because, at their core, they love taking care of people.
It’s what people in hotels and hospitality do. They care for people
They provide shelter and food for you when you’re on business or on vacation and can’t sleep in your own bed.
They also make sure you can sleep soundly and safely no matter where in the world your journeys take you.
Safety and security training was part of my job.
Early in my career, that meant asking - no usually it was more forcing - people to come to a meeting room, watch a video that explained the importance of fire safety or food safety and then going through a presentation of everyone’s roles and responsibilities.
We forced people to take part because training was mandatory. It wasn’t like they were excitedly lining up for it or badgering us about when they could do it again.
Until we changed.
One of our hotels came up with a concept that simplified the way we created templates for hotels to design departmental specific procedures for common emergencies such as fire, medical, or evacuation.
We then decided we could do the training in each department to better help employees understand the relevancy to their own work and workspaces.
The simple training ended with employees in groups drawing cards from a hat. (Or a basket if we didn’t have a hat handy.)
On each card, we’d write a different location in the hotel and the group was instructed to “evacuate” from that location. For some it would be a guest room corridor, for others it might be the kitchen, a night club, or a basement area.
As they “evacuated” groups were instructed to note any obstacles that impeded or made evacuation more challenging. Could they always see exit signs? Were all lights working? Did all doors open easily? Could they find the way to the assembly area?
Since groups were sent to areas of the hotel that they didn’t usually work in or have any reason to go to, it was like they were in the same position a first-time visitor or guest would be in if an evacuation was necessary. They could help find hindrances or issues that could be corrected before an emergency situation arose.
I was at a brand new hotel in the Middle East when it happened. After their session in the kitchen, a group that included a lauded Executive Chef that had been brought in from abroad was sent to the top floor guest room corridor to “evacuate”.
I was near the bottom of the stairwell to monitor their progress when I heard the laughter. It started as a giggle, but then, as laughter sometimes does, it became an uncontrollable, gag-for-breath guffawing.
My first reaction was disappointment and almost anger. The renowned chef was making fun of the mandatory safety training. That happened once in a while, but never in such a loud way.
“What’s so damn funny?”, I yelled up the stairwell.
“It’s not funny!”, came the reply. “It’s relief!”
When the group arrived at the assembly point, Chef was marching at the front of the group. He stuck his hand out and shook mine vigorously!
“Thank you!”, he said. “You know I’ve worked in hotels for 22 years in several countries, but until today I’ve never been in an emergency stairwell. Subconsciously, I worried what was behind those doors that said “Emergency exit only”, but now I know! It’s just stairs! Why was I so fearful, when I could have just opened a door and learned they were just stairs!”
To those of us that walked up and down those stairs several times a day on our regular rounds, it can seem silly. But for a man that travelled to many different places, including some in higher risk environments, that lack of knowledge had morphed into a subconscious fear that was released that day.”
How well do people working in your hotel know your property? Do they even know what the evacuation alarm sounds like? Do they know what happens if an elevator they’re in gets stuck? How many of them subconsciously dread the day they know will come - the day an emergency occurs?
When we changed our approach to safety and security training and made it relevant to the people it was delivered to, there were many added benefits.
In one hotel that struggled with absenteeism in stewarding, almost no one missed a shift. When the HR department asked them how come they were suddenly all showing up for all their shifts, the answer was clear:
“Until the safety training, we didn’t know anyone cared about us.”
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Stay safe, Always Care