Haunted House Safety?????

[made-u-scream-1]

I was just looking around the forum and seen posts for the fire at the Haunted Castle back in 84. I started thinking about all the haunts that really only have one thing in mind before they open. It's time to make money!!!!!!!!!!! I know there are a ton of great haunts that make safety their number one priority but I am concerned about the ones that don't. I read Rich Strelak's article about "Safety on Wheels" The Mobile Attraction, and am amazed that this was even published. He states that you only need an exit every 50 feet in a mobile haunt, is this guy on crack????????? 50 feet is the average length of a semi trailer, if you design this trailer to have rooms and mazes in its shell, than you just created a walk-thru with the right design that could possibly be 200 plus feet. Does he state in this article about where these exits should be? I guess every 50 feet? Does he say anything about having a security control room where all the actors have constant contact with the main security officer via security switches in each room of the house? He talks about fire extinguishers but says nothing about training your actors how to use them. Come on people, do you really read this crap and think these guys know what they are talking about? He says they have laminated maps and exit procedures posted at every actor position, this is a major concern. Every haunt needs to train their people ahead of time on what the emergency plan of action is. I know that some haunts use different people every night, (which is a major concern) this is how accidents happen. An emergency plan of action should include but is not limited to the following, Where is your fire extinguisher, do you know how to use it, where is the nearest exit, in case of a fire what side of the haunt do we all meet at so that the fire department can account for every one of the actors. This is not a complete list but just some of the things we do to make sure our event is safe. I would think that if an article is published about safety, it should state the obvious. We will all suffer if just one haunt fails to realize the importance of making it safe for our customers. I did not post this to rip on anyone; I just want to make sure we are all looking out for each other. We are a small group of people that need to watch out for each other.

Thanks for listening!!!!!!!!!!!

M.U.S.