Take Your Purse in an Emergency or Not?

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T

tiggycat

O.G.
Jul 29, 2009
3,703
23
#1
I was "volunteered" to be a Life Safety Warden at work (pray for my co-workers!) and had my training today.

They said we should tell folks not to take their purses if we have to evacuate for any reason.

I said "so if you can't go back in the building - you have no way to get home, no keys to get into your house (what if you are single with no family, so you have the only set of keys), no credit cards, who is going to rescue you and the other 1,000 people left helpless without their essential items?" (not to mention your designer bag! which I didn't mention in the circumstances) and the guy said all that mattered was getting out.

I get that, if you are in a meeting on another floor you get out and don't go back to your desk, but if your purse was right there, wouldn't you grab it and take it with you?
 
#3
tiggycat said:
I was "volunteered" to be a Life Safety Warden at work (pray for my co-workers!) and had my training today.

They said we should tell folks not to take their purses if we have to evacuate for any reason.

I said "so if you can't go back in the building - you have no way to get home, no keys to get into your house (what if you are single with no family, so you have the only set of keys), no credit cards, who is going to rescue you and the other 1,000 people left helpless without their essential items?" (not to mention your designer bag! which I didn't mention in the circumstances) and the guy said all that mattered was getting out.

I get that, if you are in a meeting on another floor you get out and don't go back to your desk, but if your purse was right there, wouldn't you grab it and take it with you?
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My bag would be immediately near or with me, so yeah, it's coming. I get what 'they' are saying - but I think they forgot part of it 'if you have to go out of your way....' Then, yes, I'd agree. The bag and its contents are not worth your life.
 
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#5
His reasoning was that if people see you with a purse then they think they should take their computer bag, gym bag, golf clubs, luggage (if they had taken it to work because they were leaving on a trip right after) and all that stuff becomes a hazard.

I told my husband this and he said that's why most guys don't carry bags, they keep their keys and wallets on them at all times.

Funny thing is they also showed us a training video and the first scene was the 'get ready and wait for instructions' slow alarm and they showed a woman getting her purse out of her desk. So I think it was just that one guy's personal opinion, not a general rule.
 
#6
Shoot - I grab my purse even when we're only having a safety drill! And there are tons of other women in my office that do the same. We just moved into a new office building a few months ago, so we've been having lots of drills.

I agree with others, if it's there, I'm grabbing it. To your point, it's got keys, ID, cards...stuff I may want to have on hand in an emergency. I definitely wouldn't risk life and limb to go grab it if it's not within arm's reach, but they're nuts if they think people aren't going to take it with them if it's literally sitting right there on their desk when the alarm sounds.
 
#8
If I were in charge of evacuating people, I would not tell them to grab their bags or any stuff; my instructions would focus only on getting out and staying safe. But if I were an evacuee, I would absolutely grab my bag if it were at the desk with me, but not go to get it if it I was in a different part of the building. As a member of a safety team, I would not instruct people NOT to get their bags, and I wouldn't tell them to put it back if they had it, but I wouldn't tell them to get it either. In other words, safety personnel should be focused only on getting people out and not care what they do or do not have with them.
 
#9
Are people allowed to grab their phones?

Because if you are encouraged to grab your phone, you should be able to grab your wallet and keys just as easily.

I think I would keep a small bag with strap or wristlet handy with cards, keys and phone. I can understand how a bunch of large bags could get in the way.
 
#11
Jesssh said:
Are people allowed to grab their phones?

Because if you are encouraged to grab your phone, you should be able to grab your wallet and keys just as easily.

I think I would keep a small bag with strap or wristlet handy with cards, keys and phone. I can understand how a bunch of large bags could get in the way.
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I like your suggestion - I have a MK pouchette that I could put my essentials in and grab on the way out, might be handy for lunch too rather than trying to eat standing up in the food court with a purse on my arm.

I've been working for almost 40 years (gasp!) and never once been in a real emergency, only drills. Except for 9-11 because I was working on top of the Toronto stock exchange and they sent us home as a caution, but even then we took all our stuff and used the elevators and left at our own pace.
 
#12
I was just reading about this exact situation regarding that Korean Airlines plane that crash landed by the San Francisco airport.

The problem with people grabbing anything - and whoever said that if you grab your purse then someone else will grab their computer, their bag that they had in an overhead bin, etc. Without a doubt it slows down the process of evacuating a plane.
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In the case of a fire or smoke, minutes and seconds can spell the difference between life and death. At the chutes, purses, bags, computers, etc end up doing down at a very fast speed and people get injured and even killed getting hit by these things.

So if you are in a plane crash do not grab your purse, do not grab anything, no matter how bad you want to.
 
#13
If my stuff is close by of course I am grabbing it! I'm single and alone in the city. I rely on public transportation so without my bag that means I wouldn't be able to get home because I wouldn't have cash or my metro pass, wouldn't have my keys or fob to even get into my high security condo building, no phone to call anyone that I might need to, and would have no id to prove that I am who I claim to be to get any of that stuff back. If I wasn't putting my life in danger or anyone elses to grab my bag and get out I'm definitely taking it with me no matter what anyone has to say.
 
#14
If I were the one in charge I would make it clear they are to not waste time trying to grab things (but I would expect most of them to grab @ least their bag) and get the heck out. However, the last place I worked I quickly grabbed my bag every time we had a drill, etc.
 
#15
I was in charge of fire evacuations at me Halls of Res, drills or real just getting people to LEAVE the building at all was hard enough.

These general rules are not always put in place for the people who you think. In a place where I worked a fire door was dangerous where it located, people were always going WHACK into each other, this because the management refused to put the fire door on the kitchen.

Like others, if it's next to me or on me I grab it if it's not I'm not going to put my and others' lives at risk
 
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