By Tim Keck
Have you ever wondered how vulnerable your workplace is to an active shooter? Read below and judge both your level of exposure and what you can do to reduce it. (TL; DR self-test at the end.)
We conduct vulnerability assessments for clients all over the nation to determine the answer to that question. In doing so, there are three areas we primarily concern ourselves with:
- Avoidance and Visibility
- Early Warning Systems
- Multiple Ingress/Egress Options
- Partnership with a Threat Management Expert
Avoidance and Visibility speak to how likely your organization is to get targeted in the first place. Since threats may be either internal (disgruntled employee) or external (angry activist), there is no one solution to avoid being chosen for an attack. Internally it’s all about creating a culture of trust and encouraging people to speak up if they’re concerned about a coworker. The single most important group in this regard is your first-line managers, as they are the ones closest to the people doing the job. If they build trust in their teams, they are far more likely to learn about a problem before something terrible happens.
For an external threat, we turn our gaze toward more traditional crime prevention thinking such as the appearance of your building, the effectiveness of access control systems, and the reasons someone might target your organization. If your campus looks clean and well-kept, you’re less likely to be chosen as a bad guy because it appears that someone is paying attention to such things. A highly visible and competent security presence also serves as a major deterrent.
If your access control systems keep the wrong people out and let the right people in, you’re a step ahead. Lastly, why would someone target you? Are you controversial? Do you receive threatening correspondence? Have others in your industry been targeted? Getting your brand out there is essential for growing your business, but when your brand gets on the radar of criminals and activists, it can be a bad thing.
Early Warning Systems are the single most important aspect on this very short list of considerations. We alluded to this in the earlier paragraphs because it’s all about learning about a potential problem as early as possible. Let’s say Jennifer has an abusive estranged husband. She is a good employee who has been with your organization for years. Madison, Jennifer’s coworker, hears her on the phone one morning in an argument with her husband. She hangs up, crying, and confesses to Madison that her husband is insisting she meet him for lunch or she and “everybody else” will regret it.
If that conversation is happening right now at your workplace, will you even know about it? Will Jennifer come to talk to her boss? Will she speak with you? If she won’t, will Madison? It sure would be better to know about a potential threat before the estranged husband shows up at the door with a gun.
The keys to making sure the Jennifer’s and Madison’s of the workforce speak out are a culture of trust and support, training in the warning signs of violence, and policy and practice that rewards coming forward.
Multiple Ingress/Egress Options refer to surviving an active threat scenario, which would only be necessary if we have failed to apply the first two principles. That’s why we saved it for last. If you are in a building where an attack occurs, your priority is to evacuate. Get out. Move away from the danger. If you hear screams and gunfire to the right, go left. If you hear screams and gunfire to the left, go right. Just get out of the building and don’t stop until you have placed another building in between you and the likely location of the bad guy.
That only works if there are two possible avenues of escape. For those dead-end areas with a one-way in/one-way out situation, you’ve got a real problem. Imagine a bad guy headed down the same hallway you must use to leave the area.
In those situations, we recommend creating a secure room or room. By that, we are referring to a room with no glass and a locking door. That doesn’t mean it is impossible to break into or that a shooter can’t put rounds through the walls and door. What it does mean is that it takes much longer than you might think to breach a locked commercial door set in a metal frame. The bad guy doesn’t have much time. The cops are coming, and he knows he only has a few minutes before they arrive. We also know that when bad guys shoot through things, they almost always shoot high. So, the lesson is to get in a room with no glass, lock the door, and don’t get in front of it, then stay low and wait until help arrives.
Partnership with a Threat Management Expert provides you with three things you really need. You need the ability to determine whether someone is “blowing off steam” or plotting a mass shooting. You need the ability to de-escalate a threat and manage it out of existence. You need someone to limit your liability exposure that can withstand cross-examination by an attorney in a five-thousand-dollar suit. There aren’t many such people in the entire nation, but please keep us in mind as you seek one out.
Here’s the TL; DR self-test:
- Do we have a culture of trust where people speak candidly if they are concerned?
- Do we have a brand or industry that is free of targeting by radical groups?
- Does our access control system effectively keep the wrong people out?
- Do we have a highly visible, competent, security presence?
- Do we train all employees on the warning signs of violence?
- Do all work areas provide multiple points of ingress/egress or have secure rooms?
- Do we have a trusted Threat Management Expert to help us navigate violent threats?
The more times you said “No” in response to these questions, the more vulnerable you are. By the way, number five is the most important one of all.
If you’re not happy with your level of vulnerability, we would love to help you reduce it. Our entire reason for existing is to keep you safe, so never hesitate to reach out. Call 1-844-SAFEGROUP or visit SafeHavenSecurityGroup.com today for vulnerability assessments, training, and consulting that keeps people safe. And remember, initial consultations are free.