Working in Animal Kingdom outdoor foods there are a lot of opportunities for disasters and dangers. If your not prepared your at a greater risk. During our training they stress and put a lot of emphasis on safety and the importance of being safe for yourself and for others. They start with providing all cast members with rain gear and having ones readily for sale for all guests. In our training they inform if there is lightening we have designated locations for us to pack up our equipment and head to for safety. They also map out evacuation locations for us and designated areas in case of an animal escape. They stress this everyday with preshift meetings and videos and handouts. There are signs every where to inform us of where to go and what to do in case of emergency.
I think the article brings up a great point that sticking together and staying calm and having readiness plans in place could make you a little more prepared and although Florida couldnt have predicted such conditions they were able to ban together to help their guests and their community in crisis. Their communication get their operation running maybe not as smoothly as it could be but definitely better than not.
Working at Animal Kingdom you surely have unique risks associated with your work location. Have you spoken to your leaders about situations in which they did need to utilize their training other than thunderstorm which are a usual and expected experience in central Florida?
A plan is very important when the chances of a disaster are high. Remaining calm and at the same time staying safe could be a challenge however, the constant training and emphasis of how to go about a situation such as lightning can really make a difference in staying safe.