Trainee says workers needed manager approval for 911 unless the store was being robbed

During a workplace training session, one trainee said new hires were reportedly told not to call 911 in almost any emergency, with robbery as the lone exception.

The worker said that when an active-shooter situation came up, the guidance was still to stay quiet and hide instead of calling emergency responders.

Here's what to know

In an October 9 post to Reddit's r/Antiwork forum, the original poster shared their story. OP explained that the trainer told employees they were "not allowed to call 911" and instead were directed to "talk to our manager first." 

The poster said the issue arose after another trainee asked what workers should do in an active shooter situation, and the trainer responded that employees should hide and stay quiet.

The post also raised how that instruction would apply in a medical emergency. OP wrote, "I thought to myself what about [a] medical emergency? Someone having a heart attack in the store and you can't call 911? I don't care if I get fired, I would rather try to save someone's life than to not call 911 in case of [an] emergency."

One commenter recommended getting the rule documented, adding, "Get them to put their emergency policy in writing," and saying that if the policy were as described, it was "most likely a health and safety violation (e.g., OSHA)."

Another commenter, recalling a time when they were up for management at Starbucks, said a barista called 911 after an employee had a seizure in the store. The commenter said that at a later shift supervisor meeting, staff were told: "NOT to call an ambulance for team members unless there is prior approval, due to the cost falling on whoever needs the ambulance."

A user described a former workplace where employees had to call a company hotline after an injury and speak with a nurse, who would decide between "Ice, urgent care, or the nurse would call 911."

Other commenters said immediate danger should take precedence over company procedure. One wrote, "you should definitely call 911 first and not ask for permission. No job is worth putting someone in unnecessary risk for."

Where can I learn more?

Safety and emergency response questions have come up in other retail situations too. 

• At TJ Maxx, workers said typical store aisle conditions were bad enough to mention OSHA and the fire marshal.

• At Wawa, workers sat around all day in the dark before tossing spoiled food.

• At Walmart, a store hit by a power outage left employees describing discarded food and chaos.

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