Secret Codes in Public Places

July 12, 2010 at 5:00 am Chad Upton

By Chad Upton | Editor

I was at Walmart today and I realized, I absolutely love that place — I feel like a supermodel in there.

While there, I heard an announcement for “Code C” and I had to know what it was.

You see, airports, retail stores and hospitals all have secret codes to announce information to staff without causing alarm to the general public.

Walmart actually has a lot of these codes and for good reason. Perhaps the most well known code is “Code Adam.” It was invented by Walmart 1984 and it’s now used by many different companies, all over the world.

It’s named after Adam Walsh, son of America’s Most Wanted TV host John Walsh. Adam was kidnapped from a Sears store in 1981 and murdered. Walmart actually has a very strict policy about this code. All employees drop what they’re doing, some watch the doors and other sweep the store looking for the child. Employees do nothing else until the child is found.

Other Walmart Codes:

Code Black – Severe weather (ex. tornado warning)

Code Blue – Bomb threat

Code Brown – Shooting

Code Green – Hostage situation

Code Orange – Chemical spill

Code Red – Fire

Code White – Accident

Code C – Customer service or cashier needed

Code 300 or Department 51 – Security

Walmart also has color coded pillars in their stores:

Blue – Telephone

Red – Fire extinguisher

Orange – “Spill-O-Magic” station

Boat/Ship/Vessel Codes



Code Oscar or Mr. MOB – Man overboard

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo – Serious incident such as a fire

Mr Skylight – Minor incident

Code Blue – Medical emergency

Hospital Codes

Code Blue, Code 90, Code 45 – Cardiac arrest

Code Red, Dr Red, Dr Pyro, Dr Firestone – Fire

Code Grey, Code Silver – Combative or violent person

Code Orange – Mass casualty incident

Code Black, Code Brown – Extreme weather warning

These are the most common codes, obviously some of these codes will be known by other code names in certain places. Some countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States have standards for these codes, but they differ from each other and many other countries do not have standards.

Broken Secrets

Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Email | Kindle

Sources: Wikipedia, Google Answers, Wal-mart Info, UPHAA, Vessel Emergency Codes, Hospital Codes

Share: Facebook

Twitter

More

LinkedIn

Tumblr



Pocket

Reddit



Print

Pinterest



Email

Like this: Like Loading... Related

Entry filed under: Demystified. Tags: airport, bravo, code, hospital, sail, sea, secret, ship, vessel, walmart.