Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

FIRE SAFETY 395Local fire departments or the director of security can train employees to use fire extinguishers.These informal training sessions should include operational procedures and informationon applying the appropriate type of fire extinguisher. The time to start readingdirections is not during the fire. These training sessions will give employees confidence intheir ability to handle an emergency.Guest Instruction in Fire SafetyOften, instructing guests on fire safety is overlooked. They are at the hotel for a relaxing,enjoyable visit. But fire can strike at any time, even during relaxing, enjoyablevisits. Inform each guest that all rooms are equipped with smoke detectors, that thenearest fire exit from any room is, at the most, four doors to the right of the room, thata fire extinguisher is located next to the elevator on each floor, and that a fire can bereported by dialing “0” for the hotel operator. Guests will appreciate that the hotel caresabout their well-being and that the hotel has taken every precaution to ensure that theequipment is available and in working order. Management may want to encourage gueststo read the fire evacuation guidelines posted on the door of the guest room by offeringenticing promotions. For example, on registering, the guest is informed of a special couponattached to the fire evacuation plan located on the door. This coupon may be redeemedfor a two-for-one breakfast special, a free cover charge in the lounge, a freemorning newspaper, a discount in the gift shop, or some other incentive.Accommodations for guests who are physically challenged should also be a concernfor hotel managers. Visual alarm systems, flashing lights that indicate a fire or otheremergency in a hotel room, should be installed to alert hearing-impaired guests. A reportof the locations of physically challenged guests should be easy to retrieve in case of anemergency.Fire Action Communication ProcedureThe front office employees will have to take the lead in controlling the panic that mayarise when a fire strikes. The fire communications training program developed by thefront office manager must be taught to all front office personnel. If the fire strikes duringthe middle of the day, more than one person will probably be available to assist in maintainingcontrol of the situation. But if the disaster occurs at 10:30 p.m., there may beonly one person on duty to orchestrate communications.The communications procedure begins when a guest or an employee calls the switchboardto report a fire. Unfortunately, in many cases, some time has already been wastedin attempts to extinguish the fire. Seconds are important in reporting the fire to the localfire company. At some properties, the fire company is immediately notified via the interfaceof the hotel’s fire alarm with the municipal or private monitoring station. But frontoffice personnel should never assume that the fire company has been notified and shouldimmediately call the fire station to report the fire. The call may duplicate an earlier report,but it is better to have two notifications than none.TLFeBOOK