[Infographic] How to Address the Threat of an Active Assailant Incident in Your Organization
Each and every employee and community member deserves to feel safe. OSHA requires it, labeling it as an organization’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace. Tragically, with a growing number of active assailant incidents happening all around the country, this threat is more relevant than ever before. Over a two-year span, 26 states experienced 40 active assailant incidents, resulting in more than 230 casualties.
It is essential to anticipate this debilitating threat and to put proactive and preventative measures in place. Including an ‘Active Assailant Incident’ component in your risk management program is fast becoming a cornerstone issue. There are measures that can make a difference and can save lives.
Our latest infographic breaks down this unlikely but devastating problem, including some insight into an assailant and a typical incident, and what to do to predict, prevent, and respond if a shooting occurs.
Learn more about protecting your people and your organization here:
Active Assailant Incident Management
Predict. Prevent. Respond.
Active Assailant: “An individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.” (FBI)
Incidents Continue to Rise in Frequency
The highest average of incidents ever in a two-year period.
Unlikely Events with Undeniable Outcomes
Even though the likelihood is low, the consequences of one active assailant incident can leave an organization and an entire community in shambles.
2014-2015 By the Numbers
40 incidents in 26 states
231 casualties: 92 killed, 139 wounded
4 law enforcement officers killed, 10 wounded in 6 incidents
3 unarmed security guards wounded
6 incidents ended when citizens acted to end the threat
26 incidents ended with law enforcement at the scene
14 incidents ended with exchange of gunfire between the shooters and law enforcement
42 shooters in total
39 male, 3 female
16 committed suicide
14 killed by law enforcement
12 apprehended
(source: FBI)
PREDICT.
5 Stages of Active Assailants
- Fantasy – Assailant daydreams of the shooting/news coverage, idolizes other assailants, may make drawings, web postings, or talk about their desires.
- Planning – Suspect determines the “who, what, when, where, and how” of their plan.
- Preparation – Obtains necessary weapons and devices, may call friends to warn them not to go to school or work on the day of the attack.
- Approach – Suspects heads toward intended target, armed with tools of death.
- Implementation – Shooter opens fire, continues until they run out of victims, ammunition, or is stopped
Characteristics of a “Typical” Active Assailant Incident
- Spontaneous and unpredictable
- Pre-incident signs existed
- Multi-jurisdictional response issues
- “Target rich” environment
- No escape plan
- 9 out of 10 active shooters are suicidal
- Shooter is mentally deranged or acting in a diminished mental capacity
- Mass murder is the goal
- Over within 10 minutes or less
- Multiple weapons and ammunition
- Carnage, complete chaos, noise, confusion, and alarms
- Frightened people running, hiding and unwilling to respond to directions
- “Traditional” police containment and negotiation tactics fail to work
PREVENT.
Employer’s Obligation
Federal Requirements
OSHA requires companies to maintain a safe workplace away from violence under the General Duty clause
State Requirements
Workers’ compensation laws make employers responsible for on the job related injuries to their employees.
Components of a Risk Management Plan
The goal of any active assailant risk management program is to eliminate the threat and to teach victims how to survive.
- Security Audit & Program
- Training & Simulation
- Whistleblower Program
- Active Assailants Event Insurance
RESPOND.
Quick action can save lives, and those actions have to be known and rehearsed.
How to Respond During an Active Assailant Situation
In Response to the Assailant:
- RUN: If there is an accessible escape path, attempt to evacuate the premises.
- HIDE: If evacuation is not possible, find a place to hide where the active assailant is less likely to find you.
- FIGHT: As a last resort, and only when your life is in imminent danger, attempt to disrupt and/or incapacitate the active assailant.
In Response to Law Enforcement:
- Remain calm and follow instructions.
- Slowly put down any items in your
- hands (e.g., bags, jackets).
- Raise your hands and spread your fingers.
- Keep your hands visible at all times.
- Avoid quick movements toward officers, such as holding on to them for safety.
- Avoid pointing, screaming, or yelling.
- Do not stop to ask officers for help or direction when evacuating, as they will be focused on finding and incapacitating the shooter.
