The threat we should all be talking about

It has been 24 years Since Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris entered Columbine High School, armed with firearms and explosives and hellbent on killing as many students and teachers as possible.

Since then, the frequency of these horrific incidents has only escalated. In 2020, we saw one active shooter incident occur approximately every nine days. Schools and places of worship are not the only targets. Workplaces, specifically manufacturing ones, become targets, too.

Each scenario shares eerie similarities. A disgruntled male employee, usually 40 or older, having problems at work, creates an endgame in the workplace. They have fantasized about carting out violent acts for some time. They have had numerous example scripts to follow from previous actors. Their escape plan is to end their own life, or have it taken by law enforcement once they arrive on the scene.

So, what do we do now?

The answer is two-fold. We must practice prevention and train for the worst. When Klebold and Harris walked around the library at Columbine, they executed students and staff, but let several other students survive. Why?

Through my research. I’ve come to believe that these students had some level of relationship with the shooters. The shooters liked them.

How does this relate to the workplace?

The natural response for humans is to metaphorically push people away that give us a “bad feeling”. However, when someone with violent ideations is pushed away repeatedly, it only makes it easier to dehumanize the people around them. Once your coworkers aren’t human, it becomes very easy to fantasize about hurting them. However, I truly believe that it is nearly impossible to hate someone that you have a relationship with. When we identify someone in the workplace that is getting pushed away from everyone else, we need to bring that person in closer – have lunch with them, invite them in on a work project, etc. Fostering a respectful workplace is the foundation, but unfortunately, we must also plan and train for the worst.

We know that when our brains are under stress, we revert to our past trainings and experiences.

In real-life scenario, a massive amount of adrenalin and cortisol is dumped into our bloodstreams. You’ve likely heard that we will default to one of three types of responses – fight, flight or freeze. The freeze response is what we must train ourselves out of. Luckily training out of the freeze response is not hard. It just takes time and preparation.

For over a decade I have trained police officers and the public on how to do this. The best-prepared police officers I have trained and worked with are the ones who constantly visualize scenarios as they are driving around in their squad cars. The scenarios are high-paced and realistic. For example, they are driving around and visualize a robbery in progress that they happened upon while pulling into a gas station parking lot. If the clerk is getting robbed, where is the best spot to park that provides cover and concealment? Where is the cover (something that protects them from bullets) when they approach the bad guy? What will they say on the radio to let their partners know they need help? How will they confront the bad guy? What will they do if he runs or if he attacks? By putting themselves through these exercises these officers operate at a speed that others have a hard time keeping up with.

They are just “clicking” at a faster level!

Workers and management at every level can be trained to do this as well, and with the proper tools at their disposal, can increase survival rates.

Our bodies will not go where our minds have not already gone. Therefore, training is critical so in the event we find ourselves in an active shooter situation, we do not “freeze” and increase our chances of survival.