Fire Drill Postponed Pending Completion of Fire Drill Approval Form

The Department of Labor Statistics' annual fire drill, originally scheduled for March 3, has been postponed indefinitely after it was discovered that the mandatory Fire Drill Authorization Form (FD-11) had not been completed, signed, counter-signed, or submitted to any of the four offices required to approve it. The form, which authorizes the building's occupants to practice leaving the building in an orderly fashion, must be approved by the Safety Compliance Office, the Facilities Management Division, the Office of Employee Wellness, and the fire department. It must also be accompanied by a completed Environmental Impact Assessment (Form EIA-7), as the drill involves opening exterior doors, which may allow conditioned air to escape. 'We take fire safety very seriously,' said Safety Compliance Officer Bernard Egress. 'That's why we have a rigorous process to ensure that fire drills are conducted safely.' When asked whether the absence of fire drills might itself be unsafe, Egress noted that the question fell outside his area of authority and would need to be directed to the Office of Risk Assessment via Form RA-3. Complicating matters, the Safety Compliance Office cannot locate the current version of Form FD-11. The office believes it was revised in 2022, but the revised form may have been saved to a shared drive that was decommissioned in 2023 as part of a digital modernization initiative that is itself awaiting approval. 'We could use the 2019 version,' Egress conceded, 'but that version references Building Code 44-A, which was superseded by Building Code 44-B in 2021. Using an outdated form to authorize a safety exercise would be a compliance violation, which would require its own form.' The fire department has confirmed that it is available to participate in the drill at any time. They have been available since 2022. Meanwhile, a small actual fire in the third-floor break room last Tuesday was handled by an employee with a fire extinguisher, an action that is now under review for having been performed without the proper authorization.