Preparing and practicing a response plan to workplace violence is crucial in every industry, experts say.

That entails “thinking about the what-ifs,” said Mike Britt, co-owner of Virginia-based Sentinel Security Group, “so that when something happens, you can go right into some type of reaction mode versus, ‘Oh gosh, what do I do next?’”

In the May 2023 issue of Safety+Health, Britt, along with Lev Pobirsky, senior director of safety and security for Pepsi National Brands, offered insight on spotting the warning signs of workplace violence, as well as prevention strategies.

Here, they talk about how safety professionals and workers can prepare to respond to acts of violence or active shooter scenarios.

Look at your workspace

“If you know your risks, you can better plan for a response,” Britt said.

Workers should start by surveying their immediate work area. Take note of exit locations and possible places where you can hide and barricade yourself from a perpetrator.

“The planning should take place immediately,” Pobirsky said. “‘If I’m in this cube eight hours a day, where would I run?’ Obviously, evacuation is not a workplace violence-only piece; it’s an OSHA requirement. Two ways out. So, where would I run? How far do I have to go? Are there stairs? Where’s my vehicle? Those types of things.”

Employers, as well as workers, should look at the larger layout of the building or facility when assessing possible threats or vulnerable areas. For example, a break room that fits 30-plus workers at 10:30 every morning might seem harmless from an employee’s point of view, “but from an adversarial perspective, it’s huge,” Britt said.

Pobirsky recommends practicing facility evacuations or simulated active shooter protocol in advance. Review the response plan and put it into action. Pobirsky recalls observing one training session in which a group of workers discussed barricading themselves behind a conference room door using the room’s center table.

While trying to overturn the table, however, the workers discovered that it was bolted to the floor.

“That’s the kind of stuff that helps us to know today, not a year from now when something really tragic occurs,” Pobirsky said.

Both experts suggest you give advance notice to workers and local law enforcement when conducting an active shooter drill. This can help reduce panic and anxiety.

Revisit ‘Run. Hide. Fight.’

In 2012, the city of Houston, together with the Department of Homeland Security, produced a video detailing the “Run. Hide. Fight.” response to an active shooter situation.

Although this strategy remains a standard approach, experts have found that people often believe the three steps must be followed in that exact order. That’s not always the case, Britt says.

“It does not account for the situational basis,” Britt said. “Where you are in direct correlation to that threat. If I walk out of a door and a gunman puts a gun to my chest, do I have the ability to run? Probably not. Do I have the ability to hide? Probably not. My best option at that point is to defend myself. Conversely, if you hear gunshots down the hall, is it a wise idea just to run out of the office? No. It may be that the best option, based on the situation, is to lock the doors, barricade, get low, get quiet, turn the lights off and shelter in place.”

Pobirsky agrees that the many variables in an active shooter situation – the size of the potential victim and attacker, an attacker’s weapon(s) and proximity, and the workplace setting, for example – support more nuanced training for “Run. Hide. Fight.” and viewing it through a more dynamic lens.

“There’s so much to consider that it wouldn’t really make sense to have this only-only-only approach,” he said.

Pobirsky recommends having frank conversations with workers, asking them to be introspective about their comfort with the steps of the “Run. Hide. Fight.” model.

“We’re not making anyone feel uncomfortable or we’re not calling people out publicly,” he said. “Just, ‘Hey look, if run, hide and fight, broadly, are your three options in whatever order you choose, how well can you do each of these things?’”

Move quickly

If running and evacuating are possible during an active shooter situation, remember your escape route and planning.

The city of Houston says to leave behind any belongings and evacuate regardless of whether others follow. Help co-workers escape only if possible, and don’t attempt to move anyone who’s wounded.

Keep others from entering the area where the active shooter might be. Make sure your hands are visible.

Once you reach safety, call 911 and provide the:

• Location of the active shooter.
• Physical description of the shooter.
• Number and type of weapons in possession of the shooter.
• Estimated number of workers onsite.

Get out of view

When hiding from a violent individual, find an area that’s out of view. Lock the door, if possible, and barricade the entrance as best you can.

Britt warns against having a “false sense of security” if you’re hiding in a room with keycard access. The shooter has a weapon and easily could threaten or harm a worker to obtain their card.

Stay quiet and silence your cellphone. Britt says to take a knee or crouch in the middle of a room, which lowers your risk of being hit by bullet spray from the shooter’s chest or shoulder level.

He adds that a shooter typically will look for other potential victims rather than tussle with a locked door.

However, Pobirsky says, if you think the shooter could reasonably gain access to a room, position yourself behind where the door opens. This way, you may avoid being an easy a target and also have an opportunity to disarm the shooter. (More on that in a moment.)

If you believe the shooter isn’t likely to return, remain in the middle of the room, away from the wall.

Disarm the attacker?

Fighting the perpetrator should be considered only as a last resort.

Depending on your work environment, many different items can be used as “improvised weapons” to incapacitate a perpetrator, Britt said. They include machinery, laptops, keyboards, monitors, fire extinguishers and other office equipment.

“You do not have to be any type of officially trained person,” Britt said. “You can use all types of stuff in the office. There’s a lot of different things you can use to support that defense. It’s just getting out of that limitation, ‘Well, I don’t have a weapon.’ You probably do; you just had never thought that you could use it that way.”

Go into detail

Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that 481 workplace homicides occurred in 2021 – a 22.7% increase from the previous year, and the highest annual total from 2017 to 2021.

Experts urge employers to be aware of the frequency of these incidents without making employees feel afraid to come to work.

Pobirsky said it’s challenging to simulate the feeling when “someone is actively trying to do significant harm to you or your co-workers.” The intensity only heightens during a true active shooter event, so employers should discuss with workers the physiological and mental changes that often take hold.

“Talking about what happens to the body, the mind, how people get tunnel vision, how people get intense anxiety, and their heart rate is off the charts and they lose fine motor functions because all the blood is rushing to your internal organs to protect your core,” Pobirsky said. “That’s just how we’re designed.

“There’s a lot that happens that we sometimes are aloof about, and we shouldn’t be.”

An effective plan – and practice – can help workers become more aware of what happens during these situations and how to respond.