On the day of celebrating the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, with the beginning of a fire hazard hot period and the need to periodically check the office personnel preparedness to properly respond to emergencies, the regular emergency drill related activities were held on 28.04.2021, at the Sergeli base office area. A distinctive feature of this event was that this time, the alarm was given without warning personnel and prior notice of the planned drills.
The emergency response drill was conducted as per the HSE Department pre-arranged fire scenario at the neighboring "Match Factory" (the Main Match Making Shop), where the point of fire outbreak was spotted by one of the Inventory and Warehouse Management Department warehouse employees, who, in line with the Attention Chart, reported to the security officer on the smoke. It should be noted that the commodities and materials storage warehouse, operated by the Company's Inventory and Warehouse Management Department, closely borders a match factory, and despite the understanding that all the fire safety related preventive work is put in place in the warehouse by its employees, the probability of external factors is still assessed as high. Preparedness for contingencies is exactly what the warehouse employees with a trained response team are always focused on.
When the alarm was triggered, Company personnel left the office premises and headed to a muster point, which is the vehicle parking area, predetermined for the training. In real-life emergencies, the main task of the personnel should be to instantly and coherently evacuate the base area through an open gate, with due account for the wind direction. In a real emergency situation, the parking lot will surely be full of cars, therefore, personnel will not be able to muster at the parking lot.
The total evacuation time of the office personnel was 8 min. 55 sec. This shows that the number of personnel due to the relocation to the base has grown manifold and that some employees do not respond properly and seriously to the alarm, assuming in advance that the drill is being exercised. Efforts to improve response times with personnel will be continuous.
Traditionally, during the drill, newly hired Company employees participating in such exercises for the first time were given the opportunity to use a fire extinguisher and actually extinguish a live fire. A quiz was held in a playful manner to revise information on Fire Safety at Home and at Work, following which the most active participants, who gave correct answers to all questions, received souvenirs with the Company logo and the HSE logos.
At the end of the event, Bobir O. Kenzhaev gave a short speech and emphasized the importance of such events. He also presented valuable gifts to the committee members for their active participation in trade union activities. Also, a fire-fighting team from the "Humo Arena" facility was invited this time (a simulation of prompt response to a fire) in order to demonstrate the capacities of a state-of-the-art fire-fighting vehicle equipped with all the necessary equipment to the Company's employees.
Both technical and timely staff response issues identified during the emergency response drill will be updated regularly in the action plans.
It should be reminded once again that, the new motto of the World Day for Occupational Health and Safety 2021: Anticipate, Be Prepared and Respond to Crisis - Investing in Sustainable Occupational Health and Safety Systems! This is about the fact that the Company's preparedness for any contingencies, the proper and coordinated response to them, is a guarantee of each and every Company employee's safety.