Page 12 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2018

FACILITY SAFETY
Playing It Safe
U.S. businesses, schools, and even churches are preparing themselves for proper response to active shooters.
BY THOMAS RENNER
The towns of Edgewood and Annapolis in Maryland are separated by about 50 miles, an hour’s drive and the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay. Annapolis’ popula- tion exceeds 39,400 residents, while Edgewood hovers just over 26,000; Annapolis is wealthier, more residents have a college education, and it is significantly less diverse in its population makeup than its southern neighbor.
For all of their differences, however, the towns in the “Old Line State” are inextricably linked by two horrific examples of workplace violence just nine months apart that resulted in the deaths of eight people. Two incidents, two gunmen, two tragic tales of communities and families left grieving because the victims had the simple audacity to report to work on the days the violent perpetrators decided to unleash their deadly havoc.
“In this day and age, there is no safe place in the world,” said Dr. Kathy Platoni, a clinical psychologist and retired U.S. Army colonel who is also an expert on PTSD. She survived the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, where 14 people were killed and 33 injured by a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist. The Fort Hood massacre is the deadliest mass shooting on any American military base. “What place is safe in our world? A school? A corporation? A hospital? It doesn’t exist,” she said.
Statistics reported by the FBI in May illustrate Platoni’s point. In 2017, 138 people were killed in 30 active shooting incidents throughout the nation. The
previous high for a death toll in a single year was 90 in 2012. There were also 729 casualties in 2017, far sur- passing the previous high of 214 casualties in 2016. Between 2000 and 2017, 799 people were killed in 250 active shooting incidents.1
“The findings of the (2015) FBI study underscore the importance of commercial businesses, schools, colleges, and universities to be proactive,” said Paul G. Lannon Jr., a partner in the Holland & Knight law firm in Boston, in an article written for the Society for Hu- man Resource Management in 2015. He recommend- ed that employers implement safety and security mea- sures, practice active shooter emergency drills, and train employees on how to respond to violence. More and more, organizations are heeding that wisdom.
Responding to an Active Shooter
The Department of Homeland Security published a report2 last year on how to respond to an active shooter. The department also has an hour-long on- line training class that teaches people appropriate ac- tions to take when confronted with an active shooter, recognize potential workplace violence indicators, and advise how to prevent and prepare for potential active shooter incidents.
The Department of Homeland Security report of- fers a lot of common-sense advice. An FBI video, “The Coming Storm,”3 is a 41-minute production that is a unique training tool for law enforcement, paramedics, and other first responders.
Some businesses, however, are taking training to
12 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2018
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