When considering workplace safety, active shooter incidents have become a significant concern for businesses of all sizes. While it’s distressing to consider such events, proper planning can save many lives. This article will outline the steps business owners should take to protect their staff and respond effectively to an active shooter situation, ensuring the safety of everyone involved.
We will cover prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. These are the essential areas to understand in order to develop an effective active shooter plan for your company. By being proactive now, you can help ensure a safer and more secure workplace.
The first step is workplace safety is prevention. Although there is no failsafe way of preventing violence against others, proper planning is critical. It is very important to conduct a thorough background check on any new employees being hired into an organization. It’s also crucial for fostering a respectful and equitable work culture in a place where all employees can feel valued and included. Warning signs don’t necessarily mean violence will happen. However, observing changes and patterns in behavior helps in early intervention. Staff should know how to report any concerns or alarming behaviors exhibited by others.
In addition to background checks and a sound workplace culture, awareness, and training are key prevention tools. Workplace safety also depends on your ability to educate staff about signs of potential violence. These include:
- Change in social behavior
- Increased alcohol or drug use
- Social isolation and mood swings
- Resentment of authority
- Paranoia and conspiracy theories
- Mental illness
- An interest in previous attacks
No single trait guarantees violence, but recognizing clusters of concerning behaviors can enable early intervention. Regularly assess your business for safety risks and ensure you have emergency plans and training resources in place. Keep employees informed about what to watch for and how to respond. Awareness empowers individuals to voice concerns early on, contributing to a safer workplace.
If prevention fails, protection measures add a critical layer of defense. The Department of Homeland Security advises making an Emergency Action Plan. This lays out emergency communication methods, means of notifying staff of threats, and key actions to take. Response time is critical, with active shooting events lasting about 12.5 minutes on average. Sixty percent conclude before police arrive, so informing employees quickly saves lives.
Develop close coordination with local law enforcement and first responders. Share building layouts and emergency plans. Arrange on-site assessments with police to identify vulnerabilities. Discuss law enforcement’s likely response protocol. This ensures a more integrated, effective response during a real emergency.
Invest in physical security measures to make unauthorized entry harder. Options include bullet-resistant doors, panic buttons, security cameras, metal detectors, fencing, improved lighting, and guards. While expensive, these measures boost protection. Assess your needs and budget to strike the right balance.
Workplace Safety: Threat Assessment Team
Workplace safety involves detecting threats and limiting resulting damage. It’s about being proactive to reduce risks. A key mitigation strategy is creating a threat assessment team. This team works together to identify and document potential dangers, allowing for early intervention to resolve issues before violence occurs. Locknow provides Behavioral Threat Assessment Training. For training details, please email team@locknowapp.com.
Installing physical security measures is also important. Video surveillance, metal detectors, security guards, and single-entry access points make it harder for a shooter to enter undetected. Monitoring your business’s surroundings is also wise. Quickly finding employees in danger facilitates rapid, effective response. Keep first aid kits, trauma kits, and other emergency equipment on hand to treat injuries faster. Once a shooting starts, minutes matter, so having supplies in central locations aids victim survival. Provide medical and stop-the-bleed training to some staff as well.
Regularly practice your business’s response to emergency scenarios. Drills help ensure that policies and procedures are realistic and effective, identifying gaps in mitigation strategies that can then be addressed. Practicing these responses makes them more automatic when lives are at stake.
Workplace Safety: On Campus Response
Despite best efforts, violence may still occur. Response planning becomes critical. Keeping staff informed and trained is the foundation of an effective response. Employees need to understand emergency alert procedures, evacuation routes, and how to interact with law enforcement. Active shooter training focuses on three strategies – run, hide, or fight. Evacuating the area quickly and safely is ideal. If escaping is impossible, hiding in secure rooms away from the shooter’s view is recommended. As a last resort, fighting back with improvised weapons, fire extinguishers, office items, or strength in numbers may be necessary.
Practicing these response procedures ensures less panic during real emergencies. Drills should cover lockdown, securing doors and barricading, remaining quiet, how and when to call 911, and other key actions. Muscle memory developed through practice saves precious seconds. Communication to your entire campus immediately is most critical, otherwise you risk a delayed response. Assure swift response by using the Locknow Safety App.
Ensure emergency equipment such as first aid kits, communication devices, protective gear, and other necessary items are accessible in strategic locations. This allows employees to reach lifesaving equipment quickly. Store equipment in easy-to-identify areas to facilitate rapid access.
Workplace safety involves reparation and planning for a crisis or violent incident is very important. The goal is the create a culture of awareness with your employees while staying vigilant and aware of your surroundings. Locknow offers a variety of safety training that can assist you with this goal. From preparing and responding to an active threat to de-escalating to threat assessment, Locknow is your comprehensive safety source. Reach out to us at team@locknowapp.com.
