Steps We're Taking to Empower Staff in Emergencies

Author George Villarreal

Safety is a top priority in our clubs and despite our best efforts to maintain a safe environment, we have to be prepared for unforeseen emergencies.?

It's natural that in emergency?situations, people can panic and struggle to find critical emergency shut-offs or breakers. That's why we worked with our Learning & Development team to develop new colourful decals for our mechanical rooms. These decals were installed in clubs in December.

The decals provide clear, easy-to-follow directions and enhance visibility of critical items, ensuring they can be easily located when needed the most. They will also improve our response time, especially in situations where every second counts, and help familiarize our team members with the location of all emergency shut-offs throughout our clubs.?

EASY-TO-FOLLOW FOR ANY TEAM MEMBER

Even if a team member has never been in our mechanical rooms before or doesn't know terms like "valve", "shut-off", or “breaker”, they can easily identify what we are referring to with our bright, easy-to-read labels that can be seen from a distance. It also makes it easier for Lead Maintenance Techs and Operations Managers to walk team members through emergency situations.?

I've had several times throughout my career where I have had to walk someone through shutting something down or deal with an emergency situation and it was very difficult to relay information when the person does not have a good understanding of mechanical terms, or our mechanical setup. I needed to find a way to make it simple to relay instructions or point out key critical shut-offs or electrical disconnects.?With the?footprints, I could say things like do you see the footprints? Stand there. Now look down and you'll see a valve marked "Main water shut off" - turn that off.?

PARTNERING WITH L&D

Even smaller projects like these take months to design, test, and deliver and this was no exception. These decals were first discussed in December 2023, designed in late April/early May with our Learning & Development team, and installed in June as a pilot in the Mississauga club.?

All future MOVATI clubs will install these decals, enabling staff to act quickly and confidently in emergencies.?