Active Shooter Training Is Becoming a Critical Employee Benefit
If your business does not yet provide active shooter training for your employees, it is time to seriously consider incorporating preparedness instruction as a part of your overall benefits package.
Americans have come to the harsh realization that mass workplace shootings can literally happen anywhere, at any time. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that more than two million people are victims of workplace violence every year. Experts believe there are many more cases that go unreported.
Virtually every American business could become the site of a shooting or another type of workplace violence. Making sure that your team is prepared in the event of such an emergency is critical for helping avoid a tragedy.
Active shooter training and other disaster preparedness measures can help keep you and your employees safe in the workplace. The skills they learn as a part of training and practice drills will serve them in every portion of their lives. And, by taking proactive measures to reduce these pervasive risks, you can help reduce your business’s legal and financial liability.
Workplace Active Shooter Training Reduces Legal & Financial Liability
Since the mid-1990s, when experts began tracking the cost of workplace violence, the cost to businesses has soared. From approximately $35 billion in 1995 to more than $120 billion in 2018, experts believe the cost may be substantially higher today. Although difficult to calculate, these figures include property damage, lost productivity, legal fees, increased security measures and reputational damage.
Employers may be held liable for victims’ medical treatment costs, lost wages, emotional trauma and more. Your company – and potentially you, personally – will likely face multiple lawsuits, each of which is likely to be costly. Some data indicates that employers’ average settlement is somewhere in the neighborhood of are $500,000 each, while the average jury award is approaching $3 million.
Under federal workplace safety regulations, employers must provide employees with a workplace that poses no known risks or hazards that could result in severe injuries or death. OSHA’s position is that workplace violence falls under this category. And, with every new mass workplace shooting being featured prominently in the news, lawyers will have a strong case that you, as the employer, should have known and prepared for workplace violence incidents.
Today, every employer is expected to prepare its workers for – and protect them from – active shooters and similar threats.
You can also expect a significant hit to your business’s reputation if your company becomes the site of an incident. Your facility will become a crime scene that you may lose access to indefinitely. Even if you are able to reopen, your customers may not want to venture into the site of a tragedy.
Beyond the impact that you and your company could face, providing disaster preparedness training for employees sends a powerful message about how much you care about their safety and well-being.
Active Shooter Training Benefits You by Benefiting Your Employees
You already know how hard it is to recruit, train and retain good employees. To accomplish these goals, you must offer a highly competitive salary and benefits package. You must provide opportunities for growth and development and demonstrate constantly how much you value your staff members.
Employees recognize the risks that are inherent in today’s workplace and these risks weigh heavily on their minds. Providing your team with active shooter training shows how much you care about keeping them safe.
When employees feel valued by their employer, it can help reduce turnover, increase productivity and foster long-term loyalty. It can also provide something that your employees desperately need as they head to work each day – peace of mind.
Disaster Preparedness Training Helps Employees Feel Safe in the Workplace
Studies show that most employees feel unprepared for facing incidents of workplace violence, especially those that involve an active shooter in their workplace. When you provide comprehensive training, you ensure that your team will know what to do if faced with an unthinkable situation. They will feel empowered to take the steps they must to get themselves, their coworkers and customers to safety.
Another aspect of workplace violence training you might not have considered is the possibility it could help prevent an incident from taking place. By teaching your team what to watch for, they might detect critical warning signs that precede incidents of this nature.
Critical Path Solutions provides real-world answers for companies struggling to prepare for the growing risk of workplace violence. Our goal is to help you prevent any potential disruption to your operation and to ensure that you are prepared to respond to and recover from any such event.
We offer assessments of your current policies, procedures, training and practice exercises, to identify areas where you can improve your chances of an effective response to critical events. We will help you identify potential threats and develop effective response plans. Finally, we will help you test, refine and rehearse your plans to ensure that, should you ever be called upon to carry them out, you get the best possible result.
At Critical Path Solutions, we recognize that preparing for a worst-case scenario provides the best chance of keeping you, your workplace and your employees safe until the threat has passed. We provide a highly personalized level of service and tailor every plan to the client, ensuring you have the tools you need. We are the leading provider of comprehensive disaster preparedness programs for businesses and governmental agencies throughout the United States. Contact us now to learn more about how active shooter training can reduce security risks at your business and protect your company’s most valuable assets – your employees.