I got a strong impression from the article that he had no idea there were extra people there, or that there was even a critical situation. He wrote as though he was doing a mundane daily task, and said he was really surprised his boss was even there. Given those details, he had no reason to have a heightened sense of awareness. He also mentions that a reset of all workstations should have had no impact at the time.

In this situation, the secretary playing the game is just as culpable as the intern, which is to say, not really responsible.