Not Just Server Rooms
Much industrial plant, in general, will be littered with emergency stop buttons. The one I recall was a North Sea offshore oil production platform commissioned at the start of the '90s. The designers had placed emergency shutdown buttons at various strategic locations. These buttons were shrouded and were pointed out to all new arrivals on their induction tour. Their purpose was explained, along with a warning that they would only be needed by the core operating crew who were managing the plant - it was unlikely that others would find themselves in that position. (The full platform complement was around 150 people - the majority not having direct operational responsibilities).
One new contractor pipes up "Why? What would happen?" and hits the nearby button! This is followed by a number of loud bangs (emergency relief valves being triggered), the flare going into overdrive (safely bleeding down gas pressure throughout the plant), muster alarms sounding and the general activity of ~150 people going to their emergency stations, the majority mustering in survival suits ready to evacuate the platform... (Behind the scenes, signals would be going out to divert rescue vessels to the area, getting helicopters diverted, emergency support teams readied, etc.)
The emergency situation was quickly stood down and the platform back in production by the next day - and that new contractor was off the platform on the first helicopter available. I never knew the full cost of that incident but the lost production was probably in the low millions of $$.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
