In today’s world, unfortunately, active shooter preparation has become an important emergency response practice 
for companies and organizations of every shape and size. As a matter of fact, there have been 160 active shooters incident and 1,043 causalities in between the years 2000 to 2013. On an average, 6.4 incidents happened in the first seven years and 16.4 in the next seven years.
Even though every organization is different, there are some measures that you can take for active shooter training in order to make sure that your managers and employees are well prepared to initiate an emergency response plan and control the situation and consequence of a possible incident:
Have an active shooter response plan –
Having a detailed and specific plan of action for active shooter response and sharing it with your employees and managers will help you save a lot of lives. In your response plan, you need to include a communication and evacuation strategy. It should provide solutions to questions like – where should employees go when confronted by an active shooter situation. What are the ways one can contact and alert other employees and the law enforcement? It is crucial to get answers to all these questions.
Identify signs of potential threat –
Active shooter and workplace violence might start from minor incidence and can quickly escalate. Swearing or emotional language, social isolation, temper or crying tantrums are just some of the signs that a patron or employee might be under a high amount of stress and can therefore be more likely to commit an act of violence. You need to be on a look out for these signs and behavioral changes. It might help you in averting an active shooter scenario in the first place.
Promote actions that need to be taken during an active shooter scenario –
The department of Homeland Security has come out with 6 active shooter practices that your managers and employees can memorize and follow when confronted with an active shooter scenario:
- Be aware of your environment and any possible dangers
- Take note of the two nearest exits in any facility you visit
- If you are in an office, stay there and secure the door
- If you are in a hallway, get into a room and secure the door
- As a last resort, attempt to take the active shooter down.
- Call 911 when it is safe to do so
Join this session by expert speaker Bo Mitchell, CEM, CPP, CBCP, CHCM, CHSP, CHEP, CHS-V, CSSM, CSHM, CFC, CIPS, CSC, CAS, TFCT3, CERT, CMC, who will share his experience and expertise to help organizations like yours create an effective workplace emergency response plan, procedures and policies.
