Forming a team to battle emergencies and taking the initiative to train hotel staff from various departments, The Imperial, New Delhi, recently began with the training of approximately 90 employees (which would go up to 100) to form a rescue team.
With the aim to combat any kind of emergency, be it a bomb scare or a terrorist invasion, the function of the team, called Imperial Rapid Action Force (IRAF), is to save themselves, hotel guests, other staff members and the building. Members of IRAF are not trained to be commandoes but to be self-sufficient and versed in some basic rescue activities to save whatever possible and cause minimum damage.
Vijay Wanchoo, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, The Imperial, formulated the concept for such a rescue group about four months ago. With Navneet Bhardwaj, the Security Director, the concept got polished further. Finally, after much effort, the team is almost ready.
The hotel joins hands with the Delhi Police, whose officials would brief the team members from time to time. Also, the Delhi Police is deployed in and around the hotel 24/7. The team members stay in direct contact with the police. The Delhi Police van, which is parked close to the hotel, has wireless connectivity with the hotel and especially the IRAF members.
To promote awareness about security and teach them the basics, the team comes up with some secret codes and operation names and everything would be subtly hinted.
Each member of the team is being given special practical training, wherein they would be put into mock situations and taught how to react in the given case. The members are also entitled to a badge that declares the authenticity of the membership and also identifies them out of the total 700 employees of the hotel.
The hotel also has a security team apart from this to deal with any emergency, called First Aid.
“The Imperial Delhi has taken up this initiative, keeping in mind recent terror activities, like that in The Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, which still haunts so many people in the world,” says Wanchoo.
