Why Every Employer Should Enact an Active Shooter Action Plan – Run, Hide, Fight
Active shooter incidents turn lives upside down in seconds – and there’s one popping up everywhere. Working, studying, going to shopping centers – there’s nothing 100% secure anymore.
I know, it’s not the most comfortable subject to write about. But..
If you fail to recognize the danger of an active shooter, your entire team is at risk. And I trust they are safe, that is what you do best as a leader.
Your team owes you to prepare them for whatever life can throw at them. Let’s make sure you have their backs. This is where Active Shooter Training comes into play. Employers need to take a course to learn how to respond correctly if an active shooter comes into the workplace.
It’s Down to You to Keep Them Safe
Imagine this: it’s a typical Tuesday morning in the office. You’re batting through email when gunshots break the rhythm.
Everything bursts when a killer shoots your staff and your customers. There are people running everywhere yelling and crying.
In this nightmare scenario, the life or death of your employees depends on one second’s notice. Do they run? Close the doors? Or to resist?
This is NOT a place for panic. An active shooter plan provides a blueprint to maximize their chances, even when facing mind-numbing fear.
See, the majority of attackers are quick and disappear in a matter of minutes. The police are rarely on the scene before it is finished.
Your team needs to be able to respond during those first seconds. Run, Hide, Fight” gives them quick, memorable etiquette:
- RUN away from the threat immediately
- HIDE if escape isn’t possible
- FIGHT as an absolute last resort
Once this sequence is rehearsed by all, the others are in any real chance of surviving. But without preparation? We are destined to freeze during terror events, too easily.
Don’t make your staff feel powerless. Give them the skills they need most. Their lives depend on you
Avoid the Legal and Financial Bloodbath
When a shooting happens at your office and you are hurt, you’ll get demolished by the lawsuits and the media. It’s going to get bloody.
Families of victims will demand to know why there were no measures taken to protect workers. And don’t doubt those attorneys will paint you like reckless freaks in court.
Journalists will research, until they find some top fucker to yell in the paper. You will have your reputation ripped out of the ground.
In the meantime OSHA is going to fine you enough to bankrupt a small nation over your safety deficiency. Put your head in the sand and those penalties will not disappear.
The post-event financial and legal tsunami will eat most unprepared businesses. Don’t be another stern warning.
“Run, Hide, Fight” Is Simple and Effective
The glory of this approach is that it’s so simple. Three simple things anyone can recite during a crisis:
1. RUN
If there is a runaway, use it immediately. Leave as much space between yourself and the shooter as possible as soon as possible. Forget everything. Help other people to run, but run fast!
2. HIDE
If you cannot leave, snooze. Lock yourself into safe rooms with furniture or large tools. Turn phones off, turn lights off, remain silent and out of view. Covering gives time to pass before the threat is met.
3. FIGHT
It’s the last option when you’re stuck with the shooter near you. If you face mortal threat, attack with your best weapon – chairs, fire extinguishers, scissors. Counter-attacks might give an opportunity to kill the killer and flee. It’s ridiculously dangerous, but can save lives when everyone else has died.
This pattern is simple to recall during a crisis. Once everyone is practiced, they will respond instantly without question. And tempo = survival under fire.
Repetition Reduces Panic and Chaos
Now for the freaky fact – we do not have brains configured to think clearly in the presence of death stress. Intelligent thought freezes up.
That’s why it is only through repeated active shooter exercises that panic can be counteracted. The more that your citizens do evacuations and lockdowns, the harder they get programmed into their nervous system.
You train them so they don’t have to keep worrying about next. They’ll slide their bodies, near-immediately, to the least harmful routes – running, hiding, closing up.
Then it also helps if you practice in groups because it cuts down on the chaos. People are taught evacuation roles and how to help each other, if possible. A plan saves us from being paralyzed.
And it can avoid blind panic if we know what to do. Your employees will rationally recognise that thawing out won’t help them survive. That’s the knowledge that keeps them glued.
Police Rely on You Too
One scary fact to note: the police tend to arrive after an incident ends.
So that your employees are the saviors, after all. It is what they do during those moments immediately following the attack that saves lives.
And that is why the police beg for emergency procedures at work. Responding officers depend on agents to report intel such as:
- Where are the victims?
- The gunman’s movement.
- Design and structure access point.
- Number of guests in.
It is well-trained staff who are able to give that critical context that allows police to come up with the quickest, most efficient response. But angry workers, fatigued and terrified, are unable to provide those insights when they’re needed.
Face the Fear – It’s Time to Prepare
You’re probably feeling some major discomfort thinking about all this, right? Me too – it’s downright depressing.
And I know it’s human nature to avoid envisioning worst case scenarios. But giving in to that fear of preparation can have deadly consequences.
Letting anxiety paralyze us only makes an incident MORE likely. That may sound harsh, but it’s the truth. We have to be proactive if we truly want to protect our people.
So deal with the discomfort head on. We, as leaders who lead people’s lives, have to be in our heads now that we can lead our team through emergency when it happens. It is your official responsibility – not doing it risks all of your team.