With mass shootings making headlines disturbingly often, many employees have considered the possibility of a shooter terrorizing their workplace.

Employees at the Dallas County Hospital in Perry, Iowa, have gone beyond thinking about this frightening prospect. They’ve practiced for it through an active shooter drill.

The safety committee at the 25-bed hospital worked with local law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and the hospital’s SFM loss prevention representative to hold an active shooter drill in the summer of 2016. The fire chief from nearby Waukee, Clint Robinson, played the role of the shooter, using a whistle to signify gunshots. Employees who’d been “shot” were handed a piece of paper.

In just seven minutes, the shooter had nine victims and had made it through the entire facility. This was especially disconcerting because staff had been warned of the day the drill would take place, said the hospital’s Support Services Manager Julie Smith, who also chairs the safety committee.

“The whole day and into the next day, staff were still talking about it,” she said. “They were talking in terms of what they’d do differently if it really happened.”

For example, some staff members learned they would have been better off to shelter in place than to try to escape, she said. The actor who played the shooter wore an action camera so the safety committee could analyze video from the drill.

Drill required months of preparation

Although the drill went quickly, it was a long time in the making.

The hospital began planning last fall, starting with a risk assessment conducted by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security protective security advisor, which led to creation of an action plan to reduce the risks where possible. The hospital also required all staff members to take the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s web-based active shooter training course.

To train employees in every area of the building on what they should do in the event of an active shooter incident, the committee created a video showing the options to exit the building or shelter in place in locations throughout the hospital.

“It was worth the time and effort,” Smith said. “Until you practice things, all of your policies and procedures are just words on paper.”

More employers training on workplace violence

Dallas County Deputy Sheriff Max Roll, who worked with the hospital to plan the drill, said the department is getting more requests to assist with similar types of training.

“We would recommend that anybody that feels the need for their business to do it,” Roll said. “It’s always a good thing to have, especially in today’s environment.”

Roll said the department learned a lot from being part of hospital’s drill. Law enforcement has always trained on these types of scenarios, but organizations conducting similar training is a relatively new phenomenon, he said.

The hospital’s SFM Loss Prevention Representative Jason Clausen agreed that nowadays many types of employers should be thinking about providing this type of training. He said the hospital not only trained its staff on responding to an active shooter situation, but also provided training on de-escalation tactics to prevent tense situations from becoming violent whenever possible.

“Violence prevention is an extremely important component of any safety training on workplace violence,” Clausen said. “It’s admirable the hospital is working so hard to protect its employees.”

For more information on de-escalation tactics see these SFM resources:

• De-escalation Team Training – health care
• Alternative intervention & de-escalation tactics, 5-Minute Solutions safety talk
• Home health care: Violence prevention in the home, 5-Minute Solutions safety talk

Resources from the federal government to protect against active shooters in the workplace

Following are two resources provided by the federal government that SFM’s loss prevention representatives sometimes recommend to employers who want to do more to prepare for workplace violence:

• The Department of Homeland Security’s Protective Security Advisor program
  Through this program, government security experts work with organizations in government and the private sector to protect the country’s critical infrastructure. They conduct threat assessments, hold outreach activities, respond to incidents and provide training. Depending on the risk level, a protective security advisor might even tour your facility and provide suggestions for improving security. For more information, or to contact your local protective security advisor, email PSCDOperations@hq.dhs.gov.
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s active shooter training
  This free online course trains you on how to recognize potential workplace violence indicators, what to do in the event of an active shooter situation and how to prevent and prepare for such incidents. The course takes about 30-45 minutes plus time for the post-test. If you’d like to take the test and receive a certificate, sign up for a student identification number  before you take the course.

Another option you may want to consider is reaching out to local law enforcement for guidance.

Every organization is different, and there are many other resources available if these aren’t a good fit. It’s an unfortunate reality that nowadays organizations of all types and sizes must take steps to prevent and prepare for a violent situation in the workplace.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

Independent School District 911, Cambridge-Isanti Public Schools , implemented a stepladder program to decrease falls from chairs, and got much more.

“By putting stepladders around our schools, giving teachers and other faculty easy access to them, we not only decreased the incidence of falls, but also saved our district time and money,” said Pamela Mix, human resources specialist.

As part of the district’s monthly incident and accident review process, it became evident that falls from faculty standing on tables, chairs and other unauthorized surfaces was a problem. The district’s safety and health committee decided the most effective way to decrease the risks of such falls was to provide stepladders in easy-to-access areas in every building in the district.

Previously, ladders were kept in custodial closets under lock and key, making them difficult for teachers to access. Placing stepladders throughout the departments saved employees time that would have been spent searching for a ladder.

To start the program, the safety and health committee worked with principals, head custodians and site staff to set criteria for which type of ladder to purchase. The criteria included things like maximum weight, means of storage, product material and number of steps or rungs. Based on the criteria, the committee gathered a variety of stepladders for trial.

After trying the ladders in a variety of ways and locations, the committee was able to make a selection and rolled out the stepladders to all schools within the district.

Program a success

Having the support of all school administrators and department heads was key to the success of this program. They helped communicate the expectations for use and storage of the stepladders, and reiterated the importance of safety.

“The feedback has been positive across the board. Our faculty is using the stepladders regularly and likes how easy they are to carry, use and store,” Mix said. “And since the implementation of the program, we have not seen one incident report of a fall from a table, chair or other unauthorized surface. We feel the program is a complete success.”

“As a bonus, this program encouraged others throughout the district to talk about safety in general. It got conversations going,” Mix said. “It showed that our employees are important and that we will provide the equipment they need to stay safe.”

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

Founded in 1988, ADO Products has become an industry leader in manufacturing insulation accessories, ventilation products and protective wear. All the while, CEO Jim Andrews has been making sure that employees — which now number about 65 — have a safe place to do their work. We asked Andrews how he does it and how others can do the same.

Where did your focus on safety originate?

We’re just celebrating 26 years in business, and I look back at the past with a lot of fondness. Nobody gives you a blueprint on how to start a business, and it’s been a learning process all along. In the beginning, we wanted to have our own business to provide some financial security, but more importantly we wanted to create a place that was a better type of work environment than where we came from. That ties into the philosophy of safety in our business.

First and foremost, you want somebody to be able to come to work and feel safe. One of the biggest concerns of every human being is that they want to feel safe, and we’ve built an environment where they have that.

How did you get started with controlling safety?

It’s not something that just happens overnight. It’s a process. We started with a safety committee around 20 years ago, and it’s met regularly ever since, living and breathing safety. It’s been an evolving process, to the point where we’ve begun reporting every incident that could have become an accident. We make it clear that it’s everybody’s responsibility to keep the workplace safe and clean. If you see a spill, you clean it up. If you see anything that might be unsafe, you report it. We address it immediately and put a corrective action plan in place. We preach it and we reward it.

How do you reward safety?

We try to keep it fresh and alive. We’ve organized all kinds of special events to keep safety on people’s minds, like our safety slogan contest. Every 90 days without a lost-time accident means we throw a pizza party. We just celebrated 10 years without a lost-time accident, and it could have been even longer.

How have your employees responded to your commitment to safety?

People around here live it. They understand that safety is of value, and they get it. If you asked anybody who works here what the number one priority in this company is, it’s safety over profits. We will never sacrifice safety for profits.

How has SFM helped with safety controls?

We’ll rely on SFM’s loss prevention people to come in and help us with another set of eyes. That’s really been great for us. We use the safety materials regularly, and conduct our safety training with SFM’s resources.

How do you measure the return on the investment you’re making in safety?

To me, safety is not an investment – it’s just a way of life. We do have the experience rating to go by, and ours is good enough to save us quite a bit on premiums, but for us it goes beyond saving money.

What’s your advice for other business leaders to ensure a safe workplace?

Think about it like you’re having guests in your home. The people who work with me are kind of like my guests, and that’s how I treat them. There’s really no difference in my mind between keeping guests safe in my home and keeping employees safe in the workplace. Would I want to have guests come over to my house and slip and fall because there’s ice all over the sidewalk? No. Would I want my guests to be subjected to furniture falling apart because they sit on it? No. If you look at safety that way, it carries forward in all aspects.