GSN March 2016 Digital Edition

the workplace for any suspicious or
unusual attitude among people in the
workplace. Indications of disgruntled
employees, unfamiliar people asking
questions about security, access, workflow,
or occupancy of gathering areas
on the campus should be reported
through a “tip line” or another process
to support a “see something, say something”
program.
Provide Training
Responding to an active shooter in
the workplace is a supremely terrifying
experience. This level of fear and
anxiety can be reduced through multiple
training sessions and “no-notice”
exercises that reinforce the expected
behavior of the team. People are more
likely to reach a high level of trust and
confidence with realistic training and
an on-going reward system.
The first level of training is creating
awareness and providing didactic information
to the attendees. Training
should be factual, and based on reality.
It needs to be more than just a plan or
series of exercises – it needs to foster
and support a strong survival mindset.
The second level of training is to
develop some “muscle memory” by
actually walking through the process
of running, hiding, and fighting. Try
these three scenarios in multiple areas
of the workplace so that these options
are viable in your mind.
The likelihood of being involved in
a workplace shooting is infinitesimally
small. These are low probability, high
consequence incidents. Successfully
interdicting and surviving one of these
improbable events takes training,
practice, and preparedness exercises
conducted with real-world conditions.
Senior leaders, security officers, emergency
managers, and trainers should
be vocal advocates and champions in
making the workplace more resilient.
Active Shooter Protocols
For business leaders, staying informed
of industry best practices for workplace
security is paramount for maintaining
an atmosphere of vigilance as
well as a safe and secure environment
for your employees.
While it is true that your chances of
being killed in an automobile-related
incident are far higher than being
killed at work or in a public place by
a deranged shooter, being prepared is
still the best option. In a world where
these tragedies do sometimes happen,
having a plan and procedure for how
your organization will respond in a
threat scenario is an important contributor
to employee morale and productivity
on a daily basis.
With this in mind, here is a simple
plan for training your workforce to respond
to an active shooter threat.
Alerts and Warning
22
Constructing the alert messages to
go out to everyone on site should be
viewed as an essential part of the preparedness
effort. These messages must
attract immediate attention, and move
people to comply with the directive
being transmitted. The specific verbiage
relating to the source of the alert
and the action words that describe the
immediate options available should be
clearly communicated.
The mode and medium of communications
should be chosen carefully
to include text messages, email, voice
announcements, desktop alerts, and
other push notification apps. It must
be decided if it would be advantageous
to activate strobe lights, fire alarm
enunciators, and speakerphones, or
consider whether silent alerts would
be a better option to allow people to be
quiet and less noticeable when hiding
from to perpetrators.
It might make sense in one building
to make loud noises to distract a
potential attacker while in another
building keep all messages silent after
the initial alert. This has to be evaluated
and worked out for each discrete
environment.
The planning and development of
a series of alerts, warning messages,
and status updates should be done by
architects who possess training and
experience in designing and communicating
critical messages. The choice
of words and subtle nuances must be
carefully crafted to elicit the desired
response from both employees and
visitors, including those who may not
More on page 27