A scene for a fire drill conducted by CJ Group at a movie theater to tighten up its safety 

measures at its workplaces including restaurants and movie houses. (Photo: CJ Group)

CJ Group has been all-out to prevent disasters at its workplaces, most importantly at its factories, movie houses, and other facilities by inspecting safety conditions and conducting drills to strengthen safety measures.

The group’s affiliates, such as multiplex theaters and CJ Foodville, that deal with many customers have been especially busy working to find measures to prevent fatal accidents to its customers.

CJ Foodville, for one, has been conducting fire drills at its large shops from the start of this 

year with 35 of its 139 restaurants having completed the drills and the rest of the restaurants scheduled for drills by the end of this year.

The fire drills are based on theories for dealing with fire outbreaks. The theories include what to do first when fire breaks out, and actions to be taken when the fire can’t be extinguished initially, such as ways to lead the audience to safety.

In actual drills, they actually take actions for leading the customers to safety, teach employees about resuscitating customers, and the use of fire extinguishers.

For large restaurants located at large public facilities including N Seoul Tower, airports, and highway service areas, fire drills will include fire fighters and the 119 safety centers for more comprehensive fire drills.

CGV will have fire drills every six months, with more realistic fire drills at each of its branches with the participation of real fire fighters to make them a civilian and public sector comprehensive fire drill. The management of buildings that include movie theaters will also participate in the fire drills every three months. On May 16, a large scale fire drill was conducted at CGV Ilsan with the participation of safety experts from CGV branches all around the country under a joint supervision of the Ilsan Fire Station and CGV University, a training center for personnel running CGV movie theaters. The comprehensive fire drill included a drill to lead the audience out of the theater to safety, putting out the fire, and saving lives.

The scenario for the drills begins with a fire breaking out in a restroom of a theater from a cigarette butt and spreading to the ceiling and other places in the building. The person who discovers the fire first would yell to let others know of the emergency situation and use the wireless communication. The fire experts in the building and at the theater would work together to put out the fire with fire extinguishers and let the firefighters take over when they arrive at the scene. The firefighters would size up the extent of the fire and try to take actions to save lives first.  

The drill also included the actions to take when persons with suspicious actions were found inside the theaters to prevent terrorist acts.

CGV supplemented its safety management manuals based on the results of the comprehensive drills and delivered them to its branches across the country, along with additional drills for safety experts at every CGV theater. Those fire safety experts will also conduct safety drills at their branches with the participation of the fire stations in their areas by the end of June.

By the end of May, CGV will complete the inspection of the fire prevention equipment at all CGV movie outlets around the country including emergency exits, fire prevention doors, fire proof walls, and other fire safety equipment jointly with the building management offices and take actions to supplement any defects found in the fire prevention equipment.

Officials of CJ Group said the group’s safety measures require the cooperation of the safety experts at nearby buildings in order to properly work and the group will continue to hold fire drills and other safety prevention actions to boost the quality of its safety measures for the sake of their customers at the outlets of its affiliates, especially those that cater to many customers like theaters and restaurants.