Store Evacuations

[Alpha8472]

A local Costco near me had a chemical spill.

Employees noticed a white cloud moving through the store. This led to an evacuation of the entire store. An estimated 1,000 people were in the store at the time.

I have been in several stores during emergency evacuations. Some were orderly and some were not. Does Costco even have a public address system? When the store is about to close, you hear nothing. People still shop until they dim the lights. It is up to employees to run around and tell people.

I was at a Safeway in June 2020 in the suburb of San Francisco called Pleasant Hill. It was the first day that riots were breaking out all over the country. An employee announced on the PA system that the store was now closed and that everyone needed to leave. I guess Safeway didn't want to make people panic.

What they didn't tell us was a mob of thousands of looters were heading straight toward the store after ransacking a Kohl's and the surrounding strip malls. An ACE Hardware was being torn up and a consignment store was being emptied out of merchandise.

Then I went to a Lucky supermarket nearby and the employees were talking about rumors of lootings. If they only knew how dangerous it would be to be out in public later that night.

I was at a Walmart earlier that day and Walmart announced that the store was closing early due to unfortunate circumstances. Then all hell broke loose as looters stormed the store. There was one exit door and about a thousand people squeezed through it all at once. There were car crashes in the parking lot as people tried to get out of there in a hurry. It was like a demolition derby. I am shocked that no one was killed.

I have seen videos on YouTube about Costco stores telling people to leave due to wildfires approaching. It is really scary stuff.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/con ... 427811.php

[ClownLoach]

A local Costco near me had a chemical spill.

Employees noticed a white cloud moving through the store. This led to an evacuation of the entire store. An estimated 1,000 people were in the store at the time.

I have been in several stores during emergency evacuations. Some were orderly and some were not. Does Costco even have a public address system? When the store is about to close, you hear nothing. People still shop until they dim the lights. It is up to employees to run around and tell people.

I was at a Safeway in June 2020 in the suburb of San Francisco called Pleasant Hill. It was the first day that riots were breaking out all over the country. An employee announced on the PA system that the store was now closed and that everyone needed to leave. I guess Safeway didn't want to make people panic.

What they didn't tell us was a mob of thousands of looters were heading straight toward the store after ransacking a Kohl's and the surrounding strip malls. An ACE Hardware was being torn up and a consignment store was being emptied out of merchandise.

Then I went to a Lucky supermarket nearby and the employees were talking about rumors of lootings. If they only knew how dangerous it would be to be out in public later that night.

I was at a Walmart earlier that day and Walmart announced that the store was closing early due to unfortunate circumstances. Then all hell broke loose as looters stormed the store. There was one exit door and about a thousand people squeezed through it all at once. There were car crashes in the parking lot as people tried to get out of there in a hurry. It was like a demolition derby. I am shocked that no one was killed.

I have seen videos on YouTube about Costco stores telling people to leave due to wildfires approaching. It is really scary stuff.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/con ... 427811.php

Reading the article - I highly doubt they had 200 workers clocked in and working during this incident.

For reasons I cannot comprehend, many retailers are building their new stores without PA systems. They just have music playing. This trend started about ten years ago.

Worse, many retailers are removing their phone systems as they have become obsolete. They switch to their handheld devices which operate like cell phones. When this happens the old phone switchboards in the back room are decommissioned. Guess what goes away when that happens? The PA system.

I totally agree that this is a serious matter of public safety. Any store from the size of a dollar tree and up should have a PA system easily accessible by all employees.

[storewanderer]

I am surprised by the lack of PA systems. Even if the PA system is for emergency use only, it should be present.

I have concerns about the health effects of some stores where the employees wear headsets all day and talk to each other via these headsets. Radiation and such concerns. I know we all have cell phones but we may not carry them on us all day... and definitely don't have them up against our head all day...

[ClownLoach]

I am surprised by the lack of PA systems. Even if the PA system is for emergency use only, it should be present.

I have concerns about the health effects of some stores where the employees wear headsets all day and talk to each other via these headsets. Radiation and such concerns. I know we all have cell phones but we may not carry them on us all day... and definitely don't have them up against our head all day...

Many retailers expect them to share earpieces and sanitize between uses. I would not do this and always just ordered my own. But I can't talk and listen to the earpiece at the same time so even as the Store Manager I generally would not wear the headset.

[storewanderer]

I am surprised by the lack of PA systems. Even if the PA system is for emergency use only, it should be present.

I have concerns about the health effects of some stores where the employees wear headsets all day and talk to each other via these headsets. Radiation and such concerns. I know we all have cell phones but we may not carry them on us all day... and definitely don't have them up against our head all day...

Many retailers expect them to share earpieces and sanitize between uses. I would not do this and always just ordered my own. But I can't talk and listen to the earpiece at the same time so even as the Store Manager I generally would not wear the headset.

I've had interactions with employees in stores wearing these earpieces where we are in the middle of some kind of an interaction or conversation but something comes across the earpiece that is directed at the employee who is talking to me and it isn't good because they have to temporarily pause our interaction but I don't realize it immediately, then then they only half listened to the earpiece message so they have to ask for that to get repeated. Then once the earpiece message gets heard/handled I get to repeat whatever it is I was saying as the earpiece message came through.

Fred Meyer used to have its employees use some basically cordless phones that certain managers/employees would carry around. The phones linked to the store PA system as well. They would literally just call each other on the phones when they were looking for one another. I think Home Depot or Lowes used to use those too. Typically management and loss prevention would have their own phones and certain floor employees would have a "shared" phone.

[ClownLoach]

I am surprised by the lack of PA systems. Even if the PA system is for emergency use only, it should be present.

I have concerns about the health effects of some stores where the employees wear headsets all day and talk to each other via these headsets. Radiation and such concerns. I know we all have cell phones but we may not carry them on us all day... and definitely don't have them up against our head all day...

Many retailers expect them to share earpieces and sanitize between uses. I would not do this and always just ordered my own. But I can't talk and listen to the earpiece at the same time so even as the Store Manager I generally would not wear the headset.

I've had interactions with employees in stores wearing these earpieces where we are in the middle of some kind of an interaction or conversation but something comes across the earpiece that is directed at the employee who is talking to me and it isn't good because they have to temporarily pause our interaction but I don't realize it immediately, then then they only half listened to the earpiece message so they have to ask for that to get repeated. Then once the earpiece message gets heard/handled I get to repeat whatever it is I was saying as the earpiece message came through.

Fred Meyer used to have its employees use some basically cordless phones that certain managers/employees would carry around. The phones linked to the store PA system as well. They would literally just call each other on the phones when they were looking for one another. I think Home Depot or Lowes used to use those too. Typically management and loss prevention would have their own phones and certain floor employees would have a "shared" phone.

There are a lot of chains that had old fashioned phone systems, copper wire and a PBX system in the back room usually near electrical breakers. Many of the manufacturers of these PBX phone systems have gone out of business entirely, or they have chosen to stop making parts. So the chains that care and do things correctly will replace the old PBX with a VOIP system that uses the internet for phone lines. In some cases if they were lucky and their PBX is still supported by a vendor that hasn't closed then they can just plug in a new IP box that moves the existing phones to a VOIP format and everything works the same for the store but on the back end they now have the reliability of internet based phones. These days if your copper phone lines go down the phone company may take several weeks to repair them, up to a month! So the upgrades have to be done and again when done correctly the PBX that interfaces with the paging system gets new IP capabilities.

Now here's the problem: many retailers are cheap. So there are newer options coming out which are "virtual phones" where everything is just coming in over the internet. These solutions are very popular with stores. The "virtual phone" is just an app on a handheld device, usually an iPhone or Android phone and it is not "talking to" any hardware in the store. That includes the paging system. In the stores where these systems are put in the entire phone system is otherwise decommissioned and the phones themselves just unplugged and thrown in the electronic waste bin. And all of the virtual phone upgrades can be done remotely by an IT guy at the home office who just poets the store phone numbers over to the virtual operator overnight. Then the next day the phones are dead and there's some new app on the store handhelds which is the new store phone system.

I think these virtual phones are just bad for many reasons. First, I've learned when you call a store with these systems you run into occasional problems such as the seeming "hangup" where it sounds like an employee answered and then disconnected the call a second later. Apparently this is common if an employee answers and they're in a spot where Wifi is poor, and we all know how bad Wifi can be in buildings where it was added as a retrofit instead of being installed at time of construction. Second, it just seems weird and unprofessional as it creates the appearance employees are on their personal phones as they walk around the store talking. Maybe it's easier not to be tied to a phone although every chain I worked with had a couple of cordless phones connected to the system which don't have the appearance of being personal devices. Walmart currently has this program and it just looks bad. There all employees now can use their personal phone as their store handheld device, and many choose to do exactly that. I guess they install a workplace app that gives them options from the time clock on their phone to all the inventory management and lookup. I've seen some incredibly non work appropriate cell phone cases on these employees personal phones when you ask for help and they pull out the phone to scan the shelf label and such. Finally, it is still possible to resurrect the interface to the paging system in the store but with the virtual phones they need a technician to basically run a new line from the back room to the front or wherever and they get an old school microphone with push button to page (like the show Superstore would use as a comedic device). But because this costs thousands of dollars these cheap chains won't pay to wire up and save the PA.

I really think this should be an OSHA requirement, and there are other requirements that can't be met without a working PA system. Code Adam is a program to prevent child abduction in stores and many chains train on it. When a child abduction is reported the program is to immediately page Code Adam and all employees are to secure the facility immediately moving to cover all exits before law enforcement can arrive so that they can monitor for the missing and possibly abducted child. Once again I can see how not having a PA system could both create an opportunity for an abductor to escape undetected as the store staff scramble to secure the store possibly taking longer since not everyone got the message immediately, and it could also encourage them to try to carry out the crime because they don't hear the "Code Adam Missing Child" page overhead that is intended to deter them. And of course the emergency evacuation needs, natural disasters etc. warrant the working PA system which seems less likely to me to create panic than random employees yelling down the aisles to please evacuate.

Any store of decent size, dollar stores/drugstores and up, basically any store where you can't be heard through the entire sales floor if you raise your voice, should be required to have a PA system in working order for safety reasons.

[veteran+]

I am surprised by the lack of PA systems. Even if the PA system is for emergency use only, it should be present.

I have concerns about the health effects of some stores where the employees wear headsets all day and talk to each other via these headsets. Radiation and such concerns. I know we all have cell phones but we may not carry them on us all day... and definitely don't have them up against our head all day...

Many retailers expect them to share earpieces and sanitize between uses. I would not do this and always just ordered my own. But I can't talk and listen to the earpiece at the same time so even as the Store Manager I generally would not wear the headset.

I've had interactions with employees in stores wearing these earpieces where we are in the middle of some kind of an interaction or conversation but something comes across the earpiece that is directed at the employee who is talking to me and it isn't good because they have to temporarily pause our interaction but I don't realize it immediately, then then they only half listened to the earpiece message so they have to ask for that to get repeated. Then once the earpiece message gets heard/handled I get to repeat whatever it is I was saying as the earpiece message came through.

Fred Meyer used to have its employees use some basically cordless phones that certain managers/employees would carry around. The phones linked to the store PA system as well. They would literally just call each other on the phones when they were looking for one another. I think Home Depot or Lowes used to use those too. Typically management and loss prevention would have their own phones and certain floor employees would have a "shared" phone.

I had this exact same experience at Pavilions yesterday.

The employee passionately apologized

[veteran+]

Many retailers expect them to share earpieces and sanitize between uses. I would not do this and always just ordered my own. But I can't talk and listen to the earpiece at the same time so even as the Store Manager I generally would not wear the headset.

I've had interactions with employees in stores wearing these earpieces where we are in the middle of some kind of an interaction or conversation but something comes across the earpiece that is directed at the employee who is talking to me and it isn't good because they have to temporarily pause our interaction but I don't realize it immediately, then then they only half listened to the earpiece message so they have to ask for that to get repeated. Then once the earpiece message gets heard/handled I get to repeat whatever it is I was saying as the earpiece message came through.

Fred Meyer used to have its employees use some basically cordless phones that certain managers/employees would carry around. The phones linked to the store PA system as well. They would literally just call each other on the phones when they were looking for one another. I think Home Depot or Lowes used to use those too. Typically management and loss prevention would have their own phones and certain floor employees would have a "shared" phone.

There are a lot of chains that had old fashioned phone systems, copper wire and a PBX system in the back room usually near electrical breakers. Many of the manufacturers of these PBX phone systems have gone out of business entirely, or they have chosen to stop making parts. So the chains that care and do things correctly will replace the old PBX with a VOIP system that uses the internet for phone lines. In some cases if they were lucky and their PBX is still supported by a vendor that hasn't closed then they can just plug in a new IP box that moves the existing phones to a VOIP format and everything works the same for the store but on the back end they now have the reliability of internet based phones. These days if your copper phone lines go down the phone company may take several weeks to repair them, up to a month! So the upgrades have to be done and again when done correctly the PBX that interfaces with the paging system gets new IP capabilities.

Now here's the problem: many retailers are cheap. So there are newer options coming out which are "virtual phones" where everything is just coming in over the internet. These solutions are very popular with stores. The "virtual phone" is just an app on a handheld device, usually an iPhone or Android phone and it is not "talking to" any hardware in the store. That includes the paging system. In the stores where these systems are put in the entire phone system is otherwise decommissioned and the phones themselves just unplugged and thrown in the electronic waste bin. And all of the virtual phone upgrades can be done remotely by an IT guy at the home office who just poets the store phone numbers over to the virtual operator overnight. Then the next day the phones are dead and there's some new app on the store handhelds which is the new store phone system.

I think these virtual phones are just bad for many reasons. First, I've learned when you call a store with these systems you run into occasional problems such as the seeming "hangup" where it sounds like an employee answered and then disconnected the call a second later. Apparently this is common if an employee answers and they're in a spot where Wifi is poor, and we all know how bad Wifi can be in buildings where it was added as a retrofit instead of being installed at time of construction. Second, it just seems weird and unprofessional as it creates the appearance employees are on their personal phones as they walk around the store talking. Maybe it's easier not to be tied to a phone although every chain I worked with had a couple of cordless phones connected to the system which don't have the appearance of being personal devices. Walmart currently has this program and it just looks bad. There all employees now can use their personal phone as their store handheld device, and many choose to do exactly that. I guess they install a workplace app that gives them options from the time clock on their phone to all the inventory management and lookup. I've seen some incredibly non work appropriate cell phone cases on these employees personal phones when you ask for help and they pull out the phone to scan the shelf label and such. Finally, it is still possible to resurrect the interface to the paging system in the store but with the virtual phones they need a technician to basically run a new line from the back room to the front or wherever and they get an old school microphone with push button to page (like the show Superstore would use as a comedic device). But because this costs thousands of dollars these cheap chains won't pay to wire up and save the PA.

I really think this should be an OSHA requirement, and there are other requirements that can't be met without a working PA system. Code Adam is a program to prevent child abduction in stores and many chains train on it. When a child abduction is reported the program is to immediately page Code Adam and all employees are to secure the facility immediately moving to cover all exits before law enforcement can arrive so that they can monitor for the missing and possibly abducted child. Once again I can see how not having a PA system could both create an opportunity for an abductor to escape undetected as the store staff scramble to secure the store possibly taking longer since not everyone got the message immediately, and it could also encourage them to try to carry out the crime because they don't hear the "Code Adam Missing Child" page overhead that is intended to deter them. And of course the emergency evacuation needs, natural disasters etc. warrant the working PA system which seems less likely to me to create panic than random employees yelling down the aisles to please evacuate.

Any store of decent size, dollar stores/drugstores and up, basically any store where you can't be heard through the entire sales floor if you raise your voice, should be required to have a PA system in working order for safety reasons.

One thousand percent SPOT ON!

[bryceleinan]

Many retailers expect them to share earpieces and sanitize between uses. I would not do this and always just ordered my own. But I can't talk and listen to the earpiece at the same time so even as the Store Manager I generally would not wear the headset.

I've had interactions with employees in stores wearing these earpieces where we are in the middle of some kind of an interaction or conversation but something comes across the earpiece that is directed at the employee who is talking to me and it isn't good because they have to temporarily pause our interaction but I don't realize it immediately, then then they only half listened to the earpiece message so they have to ask for that to get repeated. Then once the earpiece message gets heard/handled I get to repeat whatever it is I was saying as the earpiece message came through.

Fred Meyer used to have its employees use some basically cordless phones that certain managers/employees would carry around. The phones linked to the store PA system as well. They would literally just call each other on the phones when they were looking for one another. I think Home Depot or Lowes used to use those too. Typically management and loss prevention would have their own phones and certain floor employees would have a "shared" phone.

There are a lot of chains that had old fashioned phone systems, copper wire and a PBX system in the back room usually near electrical breakers. Many of the manufacturers of these PBX phone systems have gone out of business entirely, or they have chosen to stop making parts. So the chains that care and do things correctly will replace the old PBX with a VOIP system that uses the internet for phone lines. In some cases if they were lucky and their PBX is still supported by a vendor that hasn't closed then they can just plug in a new IP box that moves the existing phones to a VOIP format and everything works the same for the store but on the back end they now have the reliability of internet based phones. These days if your copper phone lines go down the phone company may take several weeks to repair them, up to a month! So the upgrades have to be done and again when done correctly the PBX that interfaces with the paging system gets new IP capabilities.

Now here's the problem: many retailers are cheap. So there are newer options coming out which are "virtual phones" where everything is just coming in over the internet. These solutions are very popular with stores. The "virtual phone" is just an app on a handheld device, usually an iPhone or Android phone and it is not "talking to" any hardware in the store. That includes the paging system. In the stores where these systems are put in the entire phone system is otherwise decommissioned and the phones themselves just unplugged and thrown in the electronic waste bin. And all of the virtual phone upgrades can be done remotely by an IT guy at the home office who just poets the store phone numbers over to the virtual operator overnight. Then the next day the phones are dead and there's some new app on the store handhelds which is the new store phone system.

I think these virtual phones are just bad for many reasons. First, I've learned when you call a store with these systems you run into occasional problems such as the seeming "hangup" where it sounds like an employee answered and then disconnected the call a second later. Apparently this is common if an employee answers and they're in a spot where Wifi is poor, and we all know how bad Wifi can be in buildings where it was added as a retrofit instead of being installed at time of construction. Second, it just seems weird and unprofessional as it creates the appearance employees are on their personal phones as they walk around the store talking. Maybe it's easier not to be tied to a phone although every chain I worked with had a couple of cordless phones connected to the system which don't have the appearance of being personal devices. Walmart currently has this program and it just looks bad. There all employees now can use their personal phone as their store handheld device, and many choose to do exactly that. I guess they install a workplace app that gives them options from the time clock on their phone to all the inventory management and lookup. I've seen some incredibly non work appropriate cell phone cases on these employees personal phones when you ask for help and they pull out the phone to scan the shelf label and such. Finally, it is still possible to resurrect the interface to the paging system in the store but with the virtual phones they need a technician to basically run a new line from the back room to the front or wherever and they get an old school microphone with push button to page (like the show Superstore would use as a comedic device). But because this costs thousands of dollars these cheap chains won't pay to wire up and save the PA.

I really think this should be an OSHA requirement, and there are other requirements that can't be met without a working PA system. Code Adam is a program to prevent child abduction in stores and many chains train on it. When a child abduction is reported the program is to immediately page Code Adam and all employees are to secure the facility immediately moving to cover all exits before law enforcement can arrive so that they can monitor for the missing and possibly abducted child. Once again I can see how not having a PA system could both create an opportunity for an abductor to escape undetected as the store staff scramble to secure the store possibly taking longer since not everyone got the message immediately, and it could also encourage them to try to carry out the crime because they don't hear the "Code Adam Missing Child" page overhead that is intended to deter them. And of course the emergency evacuation needs, natural disasters etc. warrant the working PA system which seems less likely to me to create panic than random employees yelling down the aisles to please evacuate.

Any store of decent size, dollar stores/drugstores and up, basically any store where you can't be heard through the entire sales floor if you raise your voice, should be required to have a PA system in working order for safety reasons.

What's weird is that there are VoIP paging adapters that are simple to install. You take the wires off the existing PBX that go to the PA amplifier, plug them into the VoIP paging adapter, provision the secure extension, and off you go. It is just an additional extension with no outside access, and there are ways to do key mapping so you do not have to change the page code from the prior system.

[mbz321]

If every Costco is like the one I work at, there is a big bullhorn megaphone along with other emergency supplies/procedure documents kept in the office, but yeah, there is no PA system or speakers of any kind throughout the building.