As I write this blog entry, it’s the early hours of the morning in New England, USA. Awakened by the CO2 detector at our apartment we have a mix of irritation and relief. Irritation, because we have guests staying over (my son and his baby son) and now we have disturbed their night’s rest, and relief, well relief because they may be something seriously wrong in the building.
So now we have to make some decisions, not unlike those that happen in our projects. An alarm has gone off. What do we do about it? Well here are some guidelines:
- Determine if the alarm is working properly. Just because someone has set off the alarm does not necessarily mean it’s a valid alert. In the case of the CO2 detector I checked the batteries and then replaced the detector before calling the Fire Department.
- See if you can identify the cause. As with the CO2 detector, sometimes the “fire” may be less visible and you will need to check to see if the problem is as serious as the alarmist indicated.
- Take action. Obviously in the case of a fire, or a gas leak, serious action should be taken quickly. With our project problem, we may not need to evacuate the building, but we still need to set an action plan in place quickly.
And don’t forget. Once you have figured out what caused the problem, ensure that you avoid it in future situations, or put checks in place that give you some heads up before the alarm is set off!
