Secret Codes in Public Places
July 12, 2010
By Chad Upton
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
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Sources: Wikipedia, Google Answers, Wal-mart Info, UPHAA, Vessel Emergency Codes, Hospital Codes
Entry Filed under: Demystified. Tags: airport, bravo, code, hospital, sail, sea, secret, ship, vessel, walmart.
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1.
Sara | July 12, 2010 at 9:26 am
this post is really cool. love it!
2.
Charyl | July 12, 2010 at 10:58 am
While working at a Canadian Department Store we had some similar codes
Code White-all employees with first aid training respond
Code Red- fire
Code Black-bomb
66-loss prevention needed, theft in progress
99-loss prevention needs assistance
Code 22-assistance needed at cash or in department
Thank goodness we haven’t had the need for the Code Brown (shooting) but then we don’t sell guns at our department stores in Canada
3.
Kristen | July 12, 2010 at 11:47 am
Very interesting. I didn’t know where code Adam originated from, or that it’s been around so long.
4.
danger | July 12, 2010 at 6:56 pm
I think “violet person” comes after
Code Blue, not Code Silver
Or, more likely, that’s a spell-checked
tpyo for “violent person”.
5.
Dave | July 12, 2010 at 9:59 pm
At the hospital where I work, and several others in this area I’ve been told of, “Code Blue” has been replaced by “Dr. Leo.” Due to the popularity of medical TV shows, many people are familiar with the meaning of “Code Blue.” The substitution of “Dr. Leo” is the result of facilities’ reluctance to advertise the (probable) death of a patient over their PA systems.
Also our code for an aggressive or threatening person is “Code Purple,” perhaps a variant of the “violet person” noted above.
6.
Josh | July 13, 2010 at 12:54 am
I used to work on a cruise ship, the correct codes are
Code Alpha: Medical emergency.
Code Bravo: Fire. Only Fire.
Code Oscar: Man Overboard.
Code Green: Flood, usually resulting from busted pipes.
Code Brown: Inside joke amongst the crew. When someone had a Code Brown, this meant they where in quarantine due to diarreaha.
7.
cole | July 13, 2010 at 6:20 am
The real secret is, sometimes the codes have NO meaning. I used to work at wal-mart and we’d occasionally make announcements for code whatever to frighten folks who looked a little.. dubious if you know what I mean. Just to make people wonder if we were watching (of course we were). Interesting enough, I’ve never heard of Code C or Code 300.
8.
Ian | July 13, 2010 at 6:41 am
Great post. The color codes always make me wonder when I hear them at stores.
My mother works in a maternity ward and a Code Pink is a missing/stolen baby. Thanks to matching ID bracelets and locked wards she has luckily never heard a Code Pink called.
When I worked at Target the warehouse/backroom guys would always call out Code 13 and a location on their channel to point out attractive women… I’m pretty sure even they knew it was lame of them to do.
9.
Robin | July 18, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I worked at Jordan Marsh (New England based Department Store) in the 80s, we had a system of melodious “Bongs” that you’d hear overhead which were standard codes for basic info like store closing time or to request security to your area. No one was allowed to make overhead announcements in voice, as I recall.
10.
RochUni | July 19, 2010 at 2:29 am
Working for a hospital emergency room in the USA for 3 years as a technician made me realize a lot of hospitals actually have a generic ‘status’ code system that they communicate every so often with other hospitals and ambulance services.
Green was low patient flow.
Red was that the trauma rooms were full.
Blue was that the patient flow was high, but no trauma rooms.
Yellow was that the trauma rooms were about half full.
This ensured that an ambulance with a gunshot wound victim or similar trauma could know with relative certainty where they should go to receive the quickest admission for someone requiring medical attention and they could call that particular hospital ahead of time to let them know they were coming.
11.
polymathamy | July 20, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Code Orange in a school usually means a child has thrown up, named because of the orange color of the clean-up product used to absorb the vomit.