Dive Brief:
- Thanks to recent high-profile attacks within workplaces, companies and organizations throughout the country are hiring firms to train workers on how to react to a shooter in the workplace – and many of these firms are now teaching workers to fight back, reports the Washington Post.
- The idea is that employees should be trained to work as a team to "disrupt and confuse" shooters in order to take them down. The technique and overall paradigm shift is approved by the Department of Homeland Security, the Post says.
- Demand for such training spikes after each active shooter event, meaning that businesses have a slew of options to choose from to arrange such training programs. Indeed, many of the programs covered in the Post "actually work," according to both the FBI and Homeland Security.
Dive Insight:
"An FBI study of active shooter events from 2000 to 2013 found that 13% of the incidents were stopped ‘after unarmed citizens safely and successfully restrained the shooter,’ ” the Post reports, meaning more companies are taking such training seriously.
NeighborWorks, one of the firms, teaches employees to throw things at a shooter – chairs, books, phones, anything – and then to swarm in an attempt to catch the shooter off guard. The Department of Homeland Security has recommended that federal workplaces also adopt the "Run, Hide, Fight" training program, which it helped develop, according to the Post.
Some firms also teach employees how to barricade rooms by stacking chairs, desks and other items in front of doors, as well as using belts and computer cords to secure hinges and doorknobs.
The message provided by "Run, Hide, Fight" is often empowering to employees, the Post reports, which goes a long way in keeping the workplace safe during dangerous events.
