Inspector Sands is a code phrase used by public transport authorities in the United Kingdom, including Network Rail and London Underground, to alert staff and other agencies, such as the police, to an emergency or potential emergency such as a fire or bomb scare without alerting the public and creating panic. The exact wording depends on the station, and the nature of the incident, for example "Would Inspector Sands please report to the operations room immediately" or "would Inspector Sands please report to platform 2".
The automated public address announcement can be generated automatically by the station's fire warning system, or can be triggered from the station control. The message audio file is usually stored as the primary standard emergency announcement on the station PA/VA system. The message may indicate that a single fire alarm call point in a public area has been operated. If a fire alarm in a non-public area is operated or more than one fire alarm is operated or if a detector has gone off the system will start the evacuation procedure and the fire brigade is automatically called. The announcement can be triggered by the station controller to alert station staff of other incidents which need urgent attention. The automated nature of the announcement and its high priority means that it has occasionally been known to cut into manual (lower priority) announcements being made by station staff.
"Mr Sands" has long been used in theatres as a code for fire, where sand buckets were used to put out fires. The word "fire" backstage would cause alarm to either performers or audience.
Famous quotes containing the words inspector and/or sands:
“Chief Inspector Dreyfus: What about the maid?
Inspector Clouseau: The maid?
Chief Inspector Dreyfus: Was he jealous of her, too? He strangled her.
Inspector Clouseau: It’s possible that his intended victim was a man and he made a mistake.
Chief Inspector Dreyfus: A mistake? In a nudist camp?
Inspector Clouseau: Nobody’s perfect.”
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)
“... continual hard labor deadens the energies of the soul, and benumbs the faculties of the mind; the ideas become confined, the mind barren, and, like the scorching sands of Arabia, produces nothing; or, like the uncultivated soil, brings forth thorns and thistles. Again, continual hard labor irritates our tempers and sours our dispositions; the whole system become worn out with toil and fatigue; nature herself becomes almost exhausted, and we care but little whether we live or die.”
—Maria Stewart (1803–1879)