I think I'll pass on an underground lab job. I don't mind being there visiting but I want to be out in the field and probably stay in the main building with my Phoenix I.D. card and voice identification card.

Yeah, I'm with you on the underground lab thing. There are too many things that can go wrong in a place like that, and when they do go wrong, you're trapped with no way out. <shudders>

Is it odd that I wonder what the Phoenix Foundation's safety protocols for something like a fire would be? There's so much dangerous stuff in there, back in their labs. Chemicals, organic compounds, military research equipment... Lots of stuff that probably doesn't need to explode.

I think their protocol is a self destruct system as we saw in Kill Zone and besides that one hell of a security system. Doors with access cards, double doors, places you need to go in with a safety suit...

We kind of saw some of the practicals in Renegade and especially Kill Zone where we see the sections sealing off, so in the event of anything going wrong the affected section would seal off.
The fact that they have so much dangerous stuff would be why it's underground so any disastrous event would be contained. Plus it means they have a highly controllable environment to help ensure nothing does happen.

I would think they have above ground labs as well for less volatile research.

The underground lab would have to have escape tunnels and things which lead up to the surface for emergency exit as well.

You're probably right about the aboveground labs. It makes complete sense that they'd have multiple facilities, and not all of their research is going to be so dangerous or groundbreakingly important that it'd need such high-level security.

But I'm not so sure about the emergency exits. If they had escape tunnels or even stairs or something, then why did Pete and MacGyver have to try to escape through an elevator shaft in Kill Zone? Since the sections seal off, you'd figure that they'd need an emergency exit for each section if they had emergency exits. But that didn't seem to be true. It looked more like Mac and Pete were on their own, with no other escape routes beyond the ordinary elevators. Unless I overlooked something, which is possible since I only saw the episode once.

Underground work wouldn't settle well with me either. I could get used to it, but not seeing daylight would start to wear on me. Also, the Pilot episode sums up the worries I have of being trapped with no way out should something go very wrong.

Back when I first moved to New York, I did a temp job that was underground. It was a mail order pharmacy manned by my sister and I. I hated it... I couldn't work underground.

Phoenix Labs always makes me think of Resident Evil's Umbrella Labs... especially from the first game. Umbrella was doing the same thing as Phoenix with the viruses, except they were using the viruses to make Bio-Organic weapons. Then it went wrong.

I remember watching Kill Zone as a kid too. It was a favorite in my household because my parents were big Michael Chrichton fans, especially the Andromeda Strain.

Well of course they do. Lesson in Evil and High Control showed their offices above ground.

They probably just took the closest way out and yes everybody was gone. They also seemed pretty deep below ground, if you have to go all the way up by the stairs, I don't think you would've made it. Elevators are faster than stairs.

I guess we'll never really know if they had emergency exits but isn't that like the law to have emergency exits in underground labs. The elevator seemed liked the main elevator. They weren't that far off, even though they had to run a bit during the sealing off. As long the sealing off and the countdown is going, you don't have to worry. But when you're in the elevator when the explosions happen, you're pretty much done for, I guess. The labs exploded on the moment Mac and Pete jumped back in the elevator, forced the door open and than boom.

Interestingly Pete says that the main elevator shaft is their only way out. But it doesn't work. They have to use the override switch on top of the elevator car.

I can sort of understand that in a contamination event so bad that self destruct is required you probably don't want to risk letting anyone out in case they carry the contamination out with them, but locking everyone in to die would raise a few legal headaches I would have thought.

Yeah, I think you're right about those legal headaches. By law, they would have to have some kind of emergency procedures for getting everyone out.

Do you think that Phoenix has a union or something to protect the researchers? I don't even know how that works for non-profits.

And since they're nonprofit, where exactly does their funding come from? Obviously, some of it comes from the government, but what about the rest of it? Do they have fundraisers? Probably there are a few wealthy supporters and charitable donations and whatnot, but still, how can they do all of this stuff?

Is there such a thing as a Phoenix Foundation bake sale, and if so, what kind of cookies would MacGyver bake?

Knowing Mac, it would have raisins in it because, ya know, they're natures candy. In which case, I'd pass. I hate raisins.

Phoenix is most likely funded by whatever contracts they get, and I believe they're privately funded? O_o

You'd think they'd have contingency plans for such emergencies, and probably drills. One of my temp jobs when I first moved to Kentucky was a high security job. Because of the nature of the job, we were told to report ANY suspicious activity... like white powder (Anthrax) or ticking. We had random searches by security and drills in case of an emergency... like someone sent us a bomb or whatever.

I believe we were evacuated at least once, but it ended up being a false alarm.

I was so glad when that job was over... XD

That's right. Good, they send everyone on weekend then before it happened. Too bad about the dog though and of course Sandra Millhouse too but her own ambition killed her.

That's indeed an interesting thing to do research on. Are underground labs not requiered to have emergency exits or staircases in case something happens like a lockdown to prevent an outbreak? Or is that just occupational hazard?

It might sound brutal but on the other side if you sign a contract to work in an underground lab, don't you think you know what you're getting yourself into in case something happens? Then again, I can't imagine Phoenix not taking their responsibility when something happens to their employees.

Gah, you're probably right. And that's probably the exact rationale that he'd use. Maybe we could convince him to make raisin-free oatmeal cookies or something instead. We need Jack Dalton to make the cookies. He'd probably load them up with candy and chocolate and who knows what else. ...but then he'd probably run off before they were done.

Gosh, I couldn't imagine doing that job. I don't think I could handle the pressure.
But coincidentally enough, I'm also from the big KY.

That's actually a really good point about the contract. I didn't think about that. In some ways, it'd probably be like being an astronaut or something, where you know the risks and you choose to do it anyway. Kinda scary to think about.