JCUERVO
6th Oct 2010, 08:38
Last night at aprox. 1:00am , an electrical fire broke out on one of the Cabin Crew accommodations of Qatar Airways. As the crew rushed out of their apartments due to the fire alarm, they noticed an acrid smell permeating the whole of the building as well as gray smoke.
Upon reaching the lobby of the accommodations, all crew were told to remain INSIDE the building (at this point the severity of the fire hazard had not been determined) so as to not "offend" the neighbors due to the fact most crew were wearing there sleeping outfits (mind you crews are told to always wear "decent" close to sleep since at any time random and unannounced inspections are allowed on Cabin crew by staff from the company)
Fire fighters responded to the seen, and proceeded up the steps to the 8th floor of the building where the fire had been determined to have been caused by faulty wiring linked to a wall A/C unit in the living room of one of the flats. The fire was put out safely, but this is where the cautionary tale begins for all those considering employment here...
After the fire had been put out, many cabin crew were now concerned about their flight for the next day (many had early flights, and minimum rest had obviously been interrupted). They were informed by an acting Performance Officer, in a mocking manner, that the only "Excuse" they had not to operate their flights was to at 3 A.M. go to the Doha clinic emergency room and report themselves sick...NO concern what so ever to the mental stress the crew had been put through as they had been rushed down steps just an hour before in the early hours of the morning...Minutes later (with firefighters still in the building and elevators out of commission) all crew were forced to return to their rooms immediately...
Some of the crew, still and obviously now being concerned with their personal safety, having never been able to leave a building that had been on fire just a few moments before, and now being rushed back up stairs, contacted the company directly. Upon raising their concerns about safety, the company rep. simply said "We can not guarantee your safety"...Needles to say, quite a few have refused flight as of today.
This statement of the events last night are not embellished or exaggerated, this is the mentality you will deal with here. YOUR personal safety is NOT guaranteed even when under the companies direct responsibility...You will NOT be treated as a person, you will be treated as a slave...
Upon reaching the lobby of the accommodations, all crew were told to remain INSIDE the building (at this point the severity of the fire hazard had not been determined) so as to not "offend" the neighbors due to the fact most crew were wearing there sleeping outfits (mind you crews are told to always wear "decent" close to sleep since at any time random and unannounced inspections are allowed on Cabin crew by staff from the company)
Fire fighters responded to the seen, and proceeded up the steps to the 8th floor of the building where the fire had been determined to have been caused by faulty wiring linked to a wall A/C unit in the living room of one of the flats. The fire was put out safely, but this is where the cautionary tale begins for all those considering employment here...
After the fire had been put out, many cabin crew were now concerned about their flight for the next day (many had early flights, and minimum rest had obviously been interrupted). They were informed by an acting Performance Officer, in a mocking manner, that the only "Excuse" they had not to operate their flights was to at 3 A.M. go to the Doha clinic emergency room and report themselves sick...NO concern what so ever to the mental stress the crew had been put through as they had been rushed down steps just an hour before in the early hours of the morning...Minutes later (with firefighters still in the building and elevators out of commission) all crew were forced to return to their rooms immediately...
Some of the crew, still and obviously now being concerned with their personal safety, having never been able to leave a building that had been on fire just a few moments before, and now being rushed back up stairs, contacted the company directly. Upon raising their concerns about safety, the company rep. simply said "We can not guarantee your safety"...Needles to say, quite a few have refused flight as of today.
This statement of the events last night are not embellished or exaggerated, this is the mentality you will deal with here. YOUR personal safety is NOT guaranteed even when under the companies direct responsibility...You will NOT be treated as a person, you will be treated as a slave...