Our building held a partial evacuation drill a week ago where we evacuate our floor and gather 8 floors down. I had my water bottle wrapped with some duct tape and my Palm leather case that has my Urban PSK items and keychain attached. The keychain is one of those detatchable dohickies that allows me to switch the attatched items for different uses. It includes a Leatherman Juice S2, a CPR microshield, a red and white photon II, BSA metal match & striker and an orange Fox 40 whistle.

I was ready! <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Then I was scolded as I met the door warden for carring items in my hands. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> And once again in the elevator lobby 8 floors down.

The logic makes sense. They want your hands free to prevent injury to yourself, as well as prevent dropped items from becoming hazards in the staiwell for others. The retired fire department chief who reviewed our readyness afterwards (he works for a private firm now), recalled an incident where someone dropped a cup of coffee they were carrying during a drill and another employee slipped and broke her ankle. The injury is bad enough but then there;s the added difficulty of an injured person bloking the stairwell, a real problem had this been a real emergency.

Hence, I need to rethink my Urban PSK carrying strategy. Obviously a bag or pack of some sort would be in order. But finding something that's unabtrusive in an office environment will be a challenge. Perhaps a lanyard or two.

BTW, I stuck the items in my pockets, which worked, but was uncomfortable and my not always be practical.