The link below is to an amateur video from the sinking Costa Concordia. The video has been made private for some reason. I am leaving the link in case the owner makes it public again.
The video shows water coming down the carpeted stairway in some lobby area. A lot of water but only an inch or so deep. The ship is listing. People are running around in all directions and screaming. There seems to be no crew member present though this location would seem to warrant one. People are reacting to abnormalities rather than calmly looking for a way out. Ultimately the record shows that most did get out so the conditions there did not result in lack of egress.
I can identify with that photographer taking the time to make a video. Once I was at a birthday party for one of my youngest son's friends. It was at a lake and was a cook-out camp-out. The birthday boy had a large gash in his leg. His leg was cut to the bone but there was no bleeding. The child was screaming to be left alone to die. There was panic. There was no plan. When some calm set in I told the father how to get to the nearby hospital. I had a first aid kit yet elected to not clean and dress the wound in this case. All worked out well.
There was a recent 28 second security camera video of a mugging at a store entrance. A woman comes out of the store with her bags and was talking on a cell phone. A man comes up at high speed, pushes her, and knocks her down. There is some resistance and she holds on to her purse. The man does get her cell phone. Rapidly he is gone. She was lucky. She could have been knifed or shot. The distraction of the cell phone could have cost her life.
Does your safety plan, business or personal, formal or informal, anticipate the conditions that could occur in an emergency?
Most formal plans are laughable and most informal plans do not exist. If someone can get to the locked filing cabinet on the third floor how will they read it if the power is out and there is no nearby flashlight?
Are you secure knowing that you have a cell phone in your car for an emergency? If your car rolls a few times, is upside down in a creek, and you are having from your seat belt will your cell phone be available? Or is your cell phone location where it is most accessible for expected calls during normal driving?
In a cartoon one time, I believe it was Doonesbury, there was discussion of a government safety plan. Federal employees were to report to the nearest post office. A hand was raised. "What if the post offices are all gone?" I thought of 9/11 when the New York City emergency response center was located in the World Trade Center.
The Cowboy Safety solution is to ask What would Clint Eastwood do in his western movies? Forget about the hotel exit plans that would have you crawl down a hallway when your room is on the first floor and has a sliding glass door to the outside. The hotel cannot tell you about doing that or the law would make them build a sidewalk and have a wheelchair ramp. It is better for them that you be found dead of smoke inhalation in the hallway.
Don't get me started.
David Sneed
The video shows water coming down the carpeted stairway in some lobby area. A lot of water but only an inch or so deep. The ship is listing. People are running around in all directions and screaming. There seems to be no crew member present though this location would seem to warrant one. People are reacting to abnormalities rather than calmly looking for a way out. Ultimately the record shows that most did get out so the conditions there did not result in lack of egress.
I can identify with that photographer taking the time to make a video. Once I was at a birthday party for one of my youngest son's friends. It was at a lake and was a cook-out camp-out. The birthday boy had a large gash in his leg. His leg was cut to the bone but there was no bleeding. The child was screaming to be left alone to die. There was panic. There was no plan. When some calm set in I told the father how to get to the nearby hospital. I had a first aid kit yet elected to not clean and dress the wound in this case. All worked out well.
There was a recent 28 second security camera video of a mugging at a store entrance. A woman comes out of the store with her bags and was talking on a cell phone. A man comes up at high speed, pushes her, and knocks her down. There is some resistance and she holds on to her purse. The man does get her cell phone. Rapidly he is gone. She was lucky. She could have been knifed or shot. The distraction of the cell phone could have cost her life.
Does your safety plan, business or personal, formal or informal, anticipate the conditions that could occur in an emergency?
Most formal plans are laughable and most informal plans do not exist. If someone can get to the locked filing cabinet on the third floor how will they read it if the power is out and there is no nearby flashlight?
Are you secure knowing that you have a cell phone in your car for an emergency? If your car rolls a few times, is upside down in a creek, and you are having from your seat belt will your cell phone be available? Or is your cell phone location where it is most accessible for expected calls during normal driving?
In a cartoon one time, I believe it was Doonesbury, there was discussion of a government safety plan. Federal employees were to report to the nearest post office. A hand was raised. "What if the post offices are all gone?" I thought of 9/11 when the New York City emergency response center was located in the World Trade Center.
The Cowboy Safety solution is to ask What would Clint Eastwood do in his western movies? Forget about the hotel exit plans that would have you crawl down a hallway when your room is on the first floor and has a sliding glass door to the outside. The hotel cannot tell you about doing that or the law would make them build a sidewalk and have a wheelchair ramp. It is better for them that you be found dead of smoke inhalation in the hallway.
Don't get me started.
David Sneed
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