o “Run. Hide. Fight.” video from Ready Houston and Homeland Security on what to do in a shooting situation.
• “Run. Hide. Fight.” text.
• FEMA online class “IS-907: Active Shooter: What You Can Do” materials and quiz.
• Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. website (for advice after a trauma).
o Law enforcement scrambles resources to deal with caseload.
o "Run. Hide. Fight." video from Ready Houston and Homeland Security on what to do in a shooting situation.
• "Run. Hide. Fight." text.
• FEMA online class "IS-907: Active Shooter: What You Can Do" materials and quiz.
• Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. website (for advice after a trauma).
o Three shootings in two days.
After the second workplace shooting in less than 48 hours last week, Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Neiman said he wasn’t surprised by the comments from survivors.
He was, however, a little saddened by the common theme.
“I had several employees come by, and to a person they said, ‘I never believed this would happen here,'” Neiman said. “They need to get out of that mindset, because it does happen.”
It’s not paranoid to have a sense of situational awareness. A company plan of action is never a bad thing — and it could save lives, he said.
Advice for individuals
According to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 767 workplace deaths in the United States due to violence or suicide in 2012. Workplace homicides and suicides were both slightly lower in 2012 than 2011.
There were 375 workers killed in shootings on the job in 2012. Robbers accounted for 33 percent of the assailants; co-workers accounted for 13 percent.
The Department of Homeland Security and Ready Houston have a six-minute training video — “Run. Hide. Fight.” — that almost all local law enforcement agencies use. And Neiman said he highly recommends everybody give it a look.
If you find yourself in a situation, the first thing to do is look for a way to get out of the building safely. If there is, run and get out, the video advises.
If you can’t get out, find a hiding place.
If you can get behind a closed door and lock it, that’s best. If not, find something large to hide behind, turn your cellphone off and stay as quiet as you can.
“Most active shootings aren’t very long,” Neiman said.
When officers arrive, remain hidden. Their first priority is to secure the scene and they will tell you when it’s safe to come out.
“If you’re in a safe place, stay there until told to come out by the authorities or someone you trust,” Neiman said.
If somebody near you gets shot and you can safely help them, you should render aid.
But if that would put you in the line of fire, well, that’s a decision you have to make for yourself, he said.
“That’s something everyone’s got to make a judgment call on,” Neiman said.
And that dovetails into the final suggestion, to fight.
In the Tuesday event at the Veterans Affairs complex, police said former Marine Neil Burkhardt, 31, of Portland tackled the shooter, wrestled the gun away and detained her until police arrived. That allowed others to help Allen Bricker, 45, who was shot twice in the chest.
“He’s a hero, and he put his life in jeopardy to stop the threat, making it safe for others to aid the person who was shot,” Neiman said. “But for others, there’s no good way to answer that. Do you endanger yourself to run under fire? You have to answer that for yourself.”
If there is no other option, make an organized attack plan and dedicate yourself to it, the video advises.
Advice for businesses
Employers also should have some sort of plan in place to protect workers if an incident occurs, Neiman said.
If not, businesses could find themselves facing liability issues.
For years, Ronnie Rencher’s company didn’t want to talk about someone walking into the office and opening fire.
“We talked about other security issues, but for a long time, we shied away from active shooters,” said Rencher, security director for a Dallas real-estate company. “We didn’t want to come across as alarmist.”
Now that topic is part of a national conversation. Rencher will be a presenter later this month in a Fort Worth workshop entitled “A Gunman in the Workplace.”
Dealing with the issue includes prevention and intervention. But don’t forget the other end of the spectrum: Following a shooting, how would you operate a business if your office was a bullet-riddled crime scene, wrapped in yellow police tape?
It all means having a plan.
“Hopefully, we’ll never have to use it,” Rencher said.
Rencher is security director for Hillwood Development Co. About three years ago, the company realized there were a couple of reasons to have a plan, including liability.
“If we don’t,” Rencher asked, “are we doing our best for our people?”
Prevention is important, although it’s tough to quantify something that doesn’t happen, said Steve Wheeler, another workshop participant.
“You don’t know what you prevent,” said Wheeler, security director for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. But after a shooting, “You see reports that there were plenty of signs — in or out of the workplace.”
Despite intervention, “Somebody still might want to come back and shoot up the workplace,” Wheeler added.
If that happens, it’s crucial to relay accurate information quickly, Wheeler said: “How do you communicate in an emergency?”
That actually was a factor in Tuesday’s shooting incident. Police wanted to notify everybody in the Center for Community Health in the Veterans Affairs complex about evacuation plans, but hit a snag. It took a while to find the person with access to the buildingwide public-address system.
Active-shooter training drills are not much different than fire drills or school lockdown drills or (in Texas, anyway) tornado drills, Rencher said.
“It tells employees what we want them to do. We train because we want everybody to react in a similar fashion,” Rencher said.
Public buildings
Clark County officials are aware of potential security threats and are looking at strategies to protect workers and the public, especially after the Tuesday shooting, said Mark McCauley, county administrator.
“After an event of this sort, we’ll be gathering information and staff input, compiling that input to determine whether changes are necessary,” McCauley said.
Led by the county’s risk management team, the county’s safety committees will try to come up with a plan of action.
That said, a variety of security measures are already in place at several locations, McCauley added.
General access to the six-story Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., is not controlled, and the sixth-floor county commissioners’ offices and chamber are open to the public. Three elevators on the east side reach all six floors, but after hours, they exit only to the first floor.
Some departments also have controlled access through cards or keys.
Security is tighter in the Clark County Courthouse and the Robert L. Harris Juvenile Justice Center. Visitors must pass through a metal detector and their belongings are scanned. Security guards hold prohibited items until the person exits the building.
Vancouver city buildings also have security.
Visitors to City Hall, 415 W. Sixth St., are greeted by an information desk attendant and a cheerful gas fireplace with a cozy seating area. But they also are greeted by a security guard, who is subcontracted through a security company.
“People can’t just walk down the halls into a department,” said Barbara Ayers, the city’s communications manager. “It’s a balance point. You want to be open to the public, welcome to the public.”
The staircase beyond the information desk accesses city council chambers on the second floor. During business hours, visitors must check in at the information desk. Employees use a key card to access offices in the nonpublic areas.
The five-story downtown library is the only branch in the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District with full-time security guards. It has four guards, although one spends some time at the Cascade Park Library.
The shooting in the VA complex building last week “is a reminder for us to review our safety plan,” said Jackie Spurlock, branch manager of the Vancouver Community Library.
