At any location, safety is key. Specifically at resorts, safety is our main priority because of our direct interaction with guests. At my location, several safety precautions have been put in place. During my training, we were briefed on these safety protocols, but weren’t specifically trained in electrical blackout events. However, we were trained pretty sufficiently in the event of a hurricane or security threat. Once a month, the head of our resort security holds a pre-shift meeting to discuss all types of safety and security with the cast members. I feel like this is very important especially in Florida. With the drastic change in weather, and the unfamiliar out-of-towners it is hard to have a well equipped cast familiar with hurricane safety.
In regards to “ensuring proper guest comfort” during emergency events, we have only been trained in-depth on security procedures. In a resort food and beverage location, you deal with a lot of irate guests. Whether the guest has had too much to drink, just traveled over a dozen hours or is in a bad mood, they tend to take it out on the cast. At my location I have had to deal with a few intoxicated guests, and continued to work appropriately. The first step is to cut off the guest from all alcohol. The next step is to follow the guest and make sure he doesn’t harm any other guests. In the process, at some point you are supposed to contact a manager. In the event that the guest becomes further irate, it is then up to the manager to inform security and have that guest escorted out of our area and into a safe location.
As far as my training on man-made and natural emergencies, it varied. Working in a kitchen, we obviously have a lot of food safety protocol but we also have loads of fire safety too. During monthly walk around, cast members are informed, and reminded of all fire safety code, procedure, zones, and fire extinguishers. Thankfully during my 4 months we have not had one fire at my location. Another man made issue we might have at Art of Animation is cuts, working in a kitchen again; you can only imagine how many people are cut on a daily basis. We ensure that all knives are properly used and stored. This includes the use of a cutting glove when anything sharp is in use.
After reading the article “The Storms of Summer” by Barbara A. Higgins I was able to further understand safety and the importance of it’s purpose. Although the article was mainly about hurricanes and the WDW blackout of 2004, I still understood how this scenario could apply to my location. I also realized that even though it isn’t currently hurricane season it would be knowledgeable to educate myself on hurricane safety procedure while I am still employed at Art of Animation.
