Warnings while in public buildings

[Lori Meyer]

I wondered, while reading over the "sirens worthwhile in FL" post, how often people are warned of tornados while in public buildings. Hospitals are the only places I have worked where tornado warnings were addressed, and even then, only to staff as a "code grey." In the event of a "code grey," we are simply to close all windows and blinds, cover the patients with blankets and move them to the hallways. Honesly, unless you had an hour lead time, nothing more than this could reasonably be pulled off without doing more harm than good.
So, how do you feel about not being warned while, say, in a walmart, shopping mall, restaurant, or any other public building when a tornado warning is issued, and what, if anything, should be done about this?

 

[Steve Miller TX]

One item to note about your Code Gray procedures is closing all the blinds and windows. This is a waste of valuable time that should be used in trying to protect patients and seek safe shelter. The last place anybody needs to be are by windows. They will be the first things to break in such an event, so it's pointless in trying to close them.

As far as being warned in a large, public setting, one particular case comes to mind. The Atlanta tornado earlier this year. The Georgia Dome had a major college basketball event underway at the time the tornado glanced the massive wide-span structure. Thousands of people were at risk of having the building collapse on them as the rafters and PA systems swayed and parts of the roofing structure fell into the arena, but there was no action to move people to safer areas. To my knowlege, there was adequate lead time by the NWS-issued tornado warning to do so. A bullet dodged.

In my opinion, large public venues (subject to definition of course...another topic for debate) should be required by fire codes to not only have an approved tornado action plan in place, but to have an active monitoring system to initiate the plan in case of emergency. Drills should be performed/simulated just like fire drills. I'm not a resident of an earthquake zone, but I think there are mandated action plans for such an event in those areas. So, why not tornado-prone areas?

As far as NOT being warned, that is an interesting issue to be taken up by the legal beagles concerning liability as both a civil and criminal matter. I would think that there is some degree of liability.

 

[Derek Mohr]

Aren't grocery stores, or any retail/malls in general, required to give warnings? I can't recall for sure but I'm near positive that I have heard the warnings announced over the PA systems.

But then again, I have been on chases where we pulled into gas stations and blatantly heard the sirens over the radio and the cashiers did nothing to warn the few in the station. Maybe I;m mistaken.

 

[rdale]

Required? No. Smart of them, to save legal fees afterwards? Of course.

 

[Connor McCrorey]

Earlier this year my town was under a tornado warning toward the end of the day and my school did nothing. The teachers weren't even notified. The only reason I found out was because I looked outside on a walk to the water fountain and sure enough, there was a very ragged, rotating wall cloud right in front of me. Nothing ever touched down, but shouldn't something have been done? We do drills for this every spring, but when the situation actually arises they do nothing! I would imagine the school administrators would have felt bad if students were injured or killed, especially with this being just one year after the Enterprise, AL tornado...

 

[Will Tinder]

Some of the major retail stores have procedures. Walmart, for example, issues a Code Black over the store P/A system if the area is placed under a tornado warning. All customers and staff are moved to the center of the building. This has happened twice while I was inside Walmarts in Central Illinois.

 

[Michael Vinther]

I strongly agree. I know a FEW places take actoin. For example, our local mall. There is a large tornado shelter inside and during a tornado warning everyone is asked to go inside it.

 

[Angie Norris]

Some of the major retail stores have procedures. Walmart, for example, issues a Code Black over the store P/A system if the area is placed under a tornado warning. All customers and staff are moved to the center of the building. This has happened twice while I was inside Walmarts in Central Illinois.

After seeing pics of how structures like Walmart hold up to tornadoes, I really don't think I'd feel safe standing in the middle of the building (not that I'd be in Walmart if severe weather was in the area).
We do the Code Black thing at work where we move the patients out into the halls, but do you care to guess what is at the end of the halls? Yep, big windows. Just my opinion, but I think the patients would be safer in their bathrooms than out in the halls.