– It was a strange morning for everyone inside West Edmonton Mall early on Wednesday since the shopping center was placed under lockdown for a short while, giving patrons and staff time to become ready for any emergency. Employees from the mall’s stores invited customers inside and locked them there, marking the first trial run of the shopping center’s new emergency plan.
“We conducted a lockdown drill this morning,” West Edmonton Mall’s Gary McCartney explained. “The purpose of the drill is to prepare our tenants, staff, and visitors on what to do automatically in the event of an emergency that necessitates hiding rather than fleeing.” It was the first of two drills scheduled for Wednesday; the first one started soon after 10 a.m., when the mall’s stores opened. The second exercise is scheduled for shortly before store closing,
which is at 9 p.m. According to McCartney, “by doing that, they enables them to train their morning staff, and their afternoon staff.” “Every two or three months, we’re going to keep doing these drills.” According to McCartney, conducting these drills periodically gave staff turnover consideration and allowed renters and employees to rehearse.
“To build that automatic response during the drill so that they will be ready and react automatically to protect themselves and our guests in the unlikely event that a real event occurs.” The exercises tested recently installed technologies at the mall, such as a new public address system and an email informing residents of the lockdown. Nevertheless, there were a few glitches with the new equipment during the drill on Wednesday morning.
