Qantas's cabin crew primary evacuation commands did not include phrases such as 'leave everything behind' and 'jump and slide'; instead, these phrases were optional. Consequently, passengers would generally not receive specific guidance until they reached an exit, which would likely slow down the evacuation.
Qantas advised in April 2022 that it was conducting a risk assessment for the inclusion of ‘leave everything behind’ in its primary evacuation commands.
In November 2021, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority released Cabin safety bulletin 26 – Brace and evacuation commands which provided guidance on commands that can be used during an evacuation. The bulletin highlights that there needs to be emphasis on cabin crew being ready to manage passengers that bring cabin baggage to exits during an evacuation. The bulletin also suggests that once the evacuation command is given that passengers be instructed to ‘leave everything behind’ and that this command should be repeated throughout the evacuation.
Recommended commands when an exit is opened for an aircraft with dual laned slides were also included in the bulletin and included ‘form two lines’ and ‘come this way’ followed by ‘jump and slide’ or ‘sit and slide’ for upper deck slides.
