Have you ever imagined yourself in an active shooter situation?
Unsure of what to do?
When involved in an active shooter event, there are three actions that can save your life: run, hide, or fight.
Run ‒ Grab your phone, leave all nonessential belongings, and run in the opposite direction of danger, even if no one else runs. Have an exit in mind and make sure you’re out of the shooter’s sight. While running, guide others to the exit if possible. Once outside, call for help. Running is the best option if you know what direction gunshots are coming from.
Hide ‒ Find the closest room with a door and as few windows as possible. If the door locks, lock it. If it doesn’t, barricade the door with furniture to create a wedge or secure the handles with a necktie or belt. Turn off all lights and put your phone in silent mode. Stay as quiet as possible. If the room has windows, stay out of sight. Hiding is effective when you can’t tell where the gunshots came from. It prevents you from meeting the shooter face to face, and few active shooters will bother trying to open locked or barricaded doors.
Fight ‒ As a last resort, if you come face to face with the shooter and have no chance of running or hiding, fight for your life. Active shooters don’t plan on people fighting back, so they may be surprised. Use this to your advantage and confuse them even more. Yell and disorient the shooter, use nearby items as weapons to deliver a deterring injury. These can be scissors, pens, staplers, fire extinguishers, or anything that increases your ability to stop the assailant.
These actions aren’t linear. Sometimes, you’ll hide first, then run, and hopefully never fight. All that matters is that you know your three options and choose them when appropriate. Run, Hide, Fight is very effective and was developed by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
Part of Run, Hide, Fight’s effectiveness is in its direct language. Everyone knows how to run, hide, and fight. Some other active shooter acronyms like “avoid, deny, defend” and “identify, assess, prevent” use elevated words to convey the same actions. When every second counts, you need to be empowered to take action rather than wonder what acronyms mean.
Learn Run, Hide, Fight
Through The Power of Preparedness’ online active shooter preparedness training, your employees will learn all aspects of Run, Hide, Fight and the best scenarios for each action. You can have peace of mind knowing your employees are thoroughly prepared.
Call us today at 833-723-3893 or contact us to get access to live saving active shooter training.