Active Shooter Plan, Regional Medical Center
Run, Hide, Fight
The Problem
Workplace violence has special significance in healthcare settings. That’s because the rate of assaults on health workers in the U.S. is 400 percent higher than it is for workers in the private sector, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Concerned about the risks of an active shooter incident, administrators of a regional medical center in the Northeast with 120,000 patients per year and a sprawling multi-acre campus commissioned a customized Active Shooter Plan for the facility.
The Solution
Our experts drew on the findings emerging from the concurrent security operations assessment they were conducting for the center, as well as their firsthand experience addressing active shooter incidents at other facilities. The team set about designing a plan tightly aligned with best practice standards and protocols published by the DHS, ASIS International and leading police departments across the country. As part of this process, the team captured critical input and expectations from third-party first responders, such as state and local law enforcement and emergency management agencies. Organized in line with the critical stages of emergency preparedness, prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, the plan addressed factors such as formation of an Incident Command Team; physical and personnel security mitigation steps; floor plans and blueprints; identification of evacuation routes and plans and safe hiding locations; partnership and collaboration with local law enforcement entities; roles and responsibilities for internal security and non-security personnel; procedures for Run, Hide and Fight, as well as lockdowns; trauma plans; communication plans; crisis kit assembly; victim counseling; and training and accreditation requirements, among many other areas.
The Results
Today, the medical center is integrating this plan within its Emergency Management Plan and preparing to share it with employees and third-party responders. Having such a plan in place is a relief to the hospital administrators.