Protective Actions for Active Shooter and Other Acts of Violence

Emergency plans for acts of violence should be established following national standards such as NFPA 1600 and applicable regulations including OSHA and state and local fire codes. Plans should include protective actions for life safety, threat and hazard specific procedures, defined roles and responsibilities, lines of authorities, an incident management system, and the identification and assessment of required resources. Implementation of plans should be accomplished through training, drills, and exercises.

Protective Actions for Life Safety

The emergency operations plan should define actions to protect life safety from foreseeable hazards. Terminology for protective actions has changed over time complicating common usage and understanding essential to prompt action. Review and agree upon common terminology within your organization, with building management and tenants, and with public safety responders.

The three basic protective actions for acts of violence are:

EVACUATION when there is a hazard such as a fire, bomb threat, or suspicious package inside the building and you must move to a safe location usually outside the building. “run” is the protective action to escape an armed perpetrator or active shooter inside a building.

LOCKDOWN (“hide”) when there is an armed perpetrator in the building or believed to be inside, but a safe path to escape is not available. This option may also be referred to as “Shelter-in-Place.” The term shelter-in-place was originally used to describe protection from a hazardous materials release outside a building. The term may also be used to describe sheltering from any hazard outside.

COUNTER (“fight”) when confronted with an armed perpetrator and you must take physical action to take down or distract a perpetrator to protect your safety or the safety of others.

For more information on prevention and deterrence of acts of violence as well as emergency response and recovery planning, read the Preparedness Bulletin: Acts of Violence. Be sure to check all of the Preparedness Bulletins, our lengthy list of curated hyperlinks to preparedness resources on the internet, and our comprehensive program self-assessment checklist. It includes more than 200 questions to help you evaluate your preparedness program.


If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment along with your email address.

Workplace Violence Prevention

There are many policies and procedures that if implemented can reduce the risk of violence in the workplace. Anti-harassment and discrimination, substance abuse, business conduct, and electronic communications/computer use policies can help to eliminate behaviors and acts that cause workers to violently react to coworkers who they believe are bullying, abusing, or threatening. Any work environment that tolerates threatening or abusive behavior is at risk.

Related policies that establish an employer’s right to access an employee’s workplace computer, desk, locker, and other items may be necessary to investigate a credible complaint.

Risk factors that may expose employees to higher incidence of violence include working at night, working alone (on or off-premises), handling cash; and interacting with persons under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Workers in night retail establishments, healthcare institutions (especially emergency departments), and social services agencies are particularly at risk.

Circumstances or stressors such an impending layoffs or organizational change that elevate tension, stress, or conflict in the workplace should be recognized and appropriate measures taken to mitigate risk.

Termination of employment can be the cause for workplace violence, so planning in advance may be warranted. Planning should begin with a threat assessment; provision of assistance for terminated employees to transition to the next phase of their life, and security measures during and following the termination meeting.

Establishing a threat assessment team to evaluate threatening behaviors and incidents is a good practice and common in public schools and higher education. Suggested team members include human resources, security, legal, safety, union representative, employee assistance program (EAP) provider, outside mental health professionals, and law enforcement.

For more information on prevention and deterrence of acts of violence as well as emergency response and recovery planning, read the Preparedness Bulletin: Acts of Violence. Be sure to check all of the Preparedness Bulletins, our lengthy list of curated hyperlinks to preparedness resources on the internet, and our comprehensive program self-assessment checklist. It includes more than 200 questions to help you evaluate your preparedness program.

Assessing Vulnerabilities to Enhance Security

A risk assessment that identifies potential acts of violence, develops planning scenarios, and identifies vulnerabilities of people, property, and operations are parts of a comprehensive preparedness program.

Scenarios should take into consideration the potential locations and timing when an act of violence could occur. Vulnerable times are when large numbers of persons arrive and at the end of the day when most leave. Scheduled special events when large numbers of persons congregate should be carefully planned, and awareness of spontaneous demonstrations is imperative.

The risk assessment should evaluate the ability to detect threats and acts of violence, alert first responders, and warn people to take protective action. The adequacy of, and vulnerabilities or weaknesses in, prevention, deterrence and protection should be evaluated and mitigated to the extent feasible.

The risk assessment should evaluate the following:

• Site location, layout, and building exterior
• Building design and layout including egress routes and areas of refuge
• Surveillance, alerting, warning, communications, and protection systems
• Physical and operational security
• Employee risk factors including travel to, and work at, off-site locations
• Human resources policies and procedures
• Workplace violence prevention program
• Emergency planning for acts of violence including coordination with law enforcement
• Employee and responder training and drills and responder exercises

Read the Preparedness Bulletin: Acts of Violence for a comprehensive planning guide that includes:

• Defining the Problem: Threats & Acts of Violence
• Conducting a Risk Assessment to Identify Vulnerabilities & Planning Scenarios
• Actions to Prevent or Deter Acts of Violence
• Emergency Planning to Protect Life & Property
• Business Continuity & Recovery
• Program Implementation: Establishing a Capability to Protect Life & Property
• Resources for Risk Assessment, Prevention, Deterrence & Plan Development.

Check out our Preparedness Bulletins for guidance on risk assessment, business impact analysis, supply chain risk, protective actions for life safety, acts of violence, hurricane preparedness, flood preparedness, thunderstorms, lightning, and tornadoes, winter preparedness, and auditing your preparedness program.

Also, check out the links to preparedness resources on the internet. This curated list is well organized to provide you with a one stop location for valuable information.

Acts of Violence Statistics

Active shooter incidents in the United States from 2000-2013 took the lives of 486 people with 557 wounded (1). The majority of these incidents occurred in commerce/business and educational occupancies. The specter of terrorism has intensified in recent years as ISIS inspired individuals perpetrate acts of violence in the United States, Europe, and around the world. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 there have been 276 terrorist incidents in the United States resulting in 124 fatalities and 580 injuries. (2) As significant as these casualty statistics are, 417 work-related homicides occurred in the United States in 2015. (3)

Statistically, workplace violence claims 50 times more victims than terrorism or active shooter incidents.

The specter of violence includes terrorism, bomb threats, suspicious packages, workplace violence, domestic violence perpetrated in the workplace, protests, civil disturbances, abduction, and kidnapping. Read Preparedness, LLC’s comprehensive paper on acts of violence. It defines the problem, and provides guidance for the different acts of violence. Risk assessment, physical/operational security, prevention/deterrence, protective actions, continuity/recovery, and program implementation are addressed. Risk managers, human resources professionals, EH&S professionals, facilities managers, and security managers each have a role in preparedness.

http://preparednessllc.com/assets/preparedness_bulletin_acts_of_violence.pdf

1. Blair, J. Pete, and Schweit, Katherine W. A Study of Active Shooter Incidents, 2000 - 2013. Texas State University and Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington D.C., 2014

2.  Global Terrorism Database, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, A Center of Excellence of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740 available at http://www.start.umd.edu/

3. Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2015, U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, December 16, 2016

March 30 Webinar: Basics of Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery

Prepare your organization for all types of disasters Thursday, March 30th The Basics of Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery Donald Schmidt, CEO of Preparedness LLC, shares valuable knowledge gained over years consulting, teaching, and service as Chair of the NFPA 1600 committee. This event is free.  Register Now

Webinar Invitation: Basics of Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery

You’re invited to attend this webinar hosted by the Safety+Ready Institue on March 30 at 1:00 PM EST.

 

This 60-minute webinar will cover the following:

 

• Identify potential hazards that could disrupt your business or damage the reputation of your organization. This includes identifying those with highest probability of occurring with the greatest impact.
• Implement a comprehensive program to address risk mitigation and hazard response and recovery. This includes the program elements in international standard NFPA 1600.
• Understand the key components of a comprehensive emergency management/business continuity program. This includes program management, planning, implementation, training and education, tests and exercises, and improvement planning.
• Identify free resources to support the development and implementation of your program.

 

An updated edition of the very popular “Emergency Management, Business Continuity, and Crisis Management Self-Assessment Checklist” will be available at that time.

 

Click here for information on the webinar; and click here to register.

 

The Safe+Ready Institute and I hope you will join us.

Curated List of Hundreds of Links to Program Development Resources

No matter your job responsibilities, access to good information is imperative. A quick "Google" search returns thousands of links. Which one of the links on the dozens of pages presented will meet your needs? Wouldn't a curated list of links be helpful? Of course!

Over the years of educating graduate students and teaching professional development courses, we have fielded many requests for information. Born from those requests and just updated with the release of our new website is a compilation of hundreds of links. Organized into a more visual, and user-friendly format, we hope that you can easily find the information you need.

The subject matter covers the wide spectrum of PREPAREDNESS: safeguarding lives, protecting property, minimizing business interruption, and protecting reputations. Here are the categories:

• Laws & Regulations
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• Periodicals
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• Risk Assessment
• Loss Prevention & Hazard Mitigation
• Emergency Management
• Business Continuity & IT Disaster Recovery
• Crisis Management
• Recovery
• Incident Management
• Education & Training, Drills & Exercises

Click here to go to the list.