Occupational Health & Safety: Arizona Employers Add New Training
Last issue I shared part one of my own personal story surviving an active shooter in the workplace, along with my interview with local SWAT Team Member, and President of MilMak Industries, Justin Walker.
Justin shared with us how Arizona employers are working to better prepare employees for surviving violence in the workplace by incorporating it into standard safety training. If you missed that issue you can read it here.
This week I share the conclusion of my own story, but first, part 2 of my interview with Justin.
Surviving Workplace Violence – Part 2
(For Part 1 of the interview – click here)
Me: In fairness Justin, “run, hide, fight” sounds like pretty common-sense advice when it comes to surviving a threat of violence in the workplace. What can a member of the SWAT team teach us beyond that?
Justin: As highly skilled members of law enforcement we take our years of experience in dealing with emergency situations and share it with employers and their employees so survival plans are developed based on realistic scenarios.
As an example, we visit the employer’s location and assess the property. We identify areas of vulnerability and determine the best escape routes or areas to take cover. Each employer has a unique location. For the training to be the most effective and for the employees to be the most prepared, the emergency preparedness and emergency plans have to be built around their specific environment.
We also share the “do-s” and “don’t-s” should employees find themselves in a hostage situation.
We help employees consider a number of realistic situations they may encounter. For example, if you’re dealing with a gunman chances are he is no longer thinking rationally, however, often times the volatility of the situation is escalated due to the gunman being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. These substances help to give them the boost of courage they need to commit the violent act.
We help employees consider and work through a number of various scenarios based on our experience that will offer them the best chance of survival and teach them techniques that can buy them time when they need it most.
Me: Realistically, statistically – how at risk are we for an act of violence in the workplace?
Justin: One needs only to turn on the news or pick up a newspaper to know that unfortunately, active shooter scenarios continue to escalate. The reality is that it could happen, and it could happen to you.
Why not be prepared and spend some time on discussion, planning, and rehearsing? Planning and understanding that these events can happen to anyone at any time could mean the difference between life and death.
Me: Justin, how can employers reach you to arrange for emergency response training?
Justin: Arizona employers interested in expanding their workplace safety programs to include active shooter/emergency response training for employees can contact us at:
Phone: 602-290-4295
Email: [email protected]
or visit https://milmakindustries.com/contact-us/
How I Survived An Active Shooter – Part 2
As I cowered under a desk on the 2nd floor the sound of gunfire rang out from the floor below me. I waited on the phone with the 911 operator who assured me help was on the way. I remember the next 5 minutes feeling like 5 hours. The SWAT team soon appeared on scene, sneaking in through the back entry to the building, and then escorting all but 2 employees out and across the alley to safety at another business.
For the next 6 hours, the gunman held hostage our security guard, our receptionist, the construction worker I had been helping at the claims counter, and a courier who unfortunately walked into the whole situation unknowingly while delivering the morning mail.
The gunman’s plan was to take his own life that morning. He had brought several bottles of prescription painkillers with him and had his hostages stir them into numerous cups of coffee he drank throughout the standoff. His demands were completely unreasonable, requesting that an executive of the company be the one to pull the trigger on the bullet that would end the gunman’s life.
For the next 6 hours with helicopters flying overhead and TAC Team snipers strategically positioned on surrounding rooftops, hostage negotiators attempted to reason with the gunman. In a fortunate turn of events, at about 1:30 p.m. the gunman finally succumbed to the effects of all the narcotics he had ingested during the standoff and one of the hostages, an Army veteran and the building security guard, was able to wrestle the gun away from him and hold him until the police showed up.
The Aftermath
At the trial we learned that the gunman was a disgruntled worker, whose claim for a knee injury had been paid for 6 weeks on an aggravated basis and he felt it should have been paid longer. We learned that in the months leading up to the incident he had made several violent threats against his case manager, at one point even mailing her a clip of bullets as a foreshadowing of things to come.
Whether those threats were taken seriously or not, they were never shared with those of us working on the front lines, and definitely were not shared with any of the surrounding business owners. The judge delivered a 10-year sentence of which the gunman served four. I later learned he took his own life shortly following release from prison.
Be Prepared!
I share this story for the benefit of anyone who goes to work every day believing that somehow they are immune to a similar event. My event happened 25 years ago, in Canada where the assumption is often made that the nation’s gun laws protect citizens from gun violence. I am proof that if someone deranged, irrational, desperate, or all of the above wants to get hold of a gun and terrorize you, or worse – he will.
What I learned from the whole experience is the value of having a plan, with the hope you never have to use it. Maybe all your customers are happy ones, and your employees are all normal, rational thinking, law abiding citizens. Much of what needed to be in place to keep employees safe on that day back in 1993 was implemented after the event.
My wish for everyone reading this story is that you never have to rely on hindsight as the only tool to keep you safe in a life or death situation.
For an account of active shooter incidents in the workplace occurring in the United States between 2000 – 2017, click here.