If you are in the infrastructure protection industry, you likely have been working on building private-public partnerships and taking advantage of some of the resources and training available. You have probably found it to be a bit overwhelming if you have. If you happen to be chief of security responsible for infrastructure protection, then things get much more complicated. There are more threats to consider, and protecting your infrastructure and employees is more complicated.

Thankfully, many resources and training are available to assist you with infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, and the one thousand other things you have on your plate. I want to focus on one particular threat and the role that private-public partnerships can play concerning this threat.

I want to discuss one threat that every business needs to plan for. Whether you have a large corporation or a small mom-and-pop store, it’s something you should be prepared for. Workplace violence and active shooter incidents have been on the rise with an expected increase over the next couple of years for several reasons. Due to the long periods of isolation caused by COVID-19, mental health is overall declining. As more people struggle with mental health issues, we find a lack of affordable resources available for them. Many individuals have been thrown into financial struggles that they may find overwhelming. This all adds to the potential for more workplace violence and active shooter incidents.  

With workplace violence and active shooter incidents, you may find yourself asking how you plan for something like that. Not only do you need to consider your facility, but consideration is needed for neighboring businesses as well. If an active shooter incident or a bomb is planted at the business next door, it can spill over to your facility. 

This is further complicated when you have multiple facilities in different locations. The first place you should start is with your employees. The boots on the ground are the ones that can help you identify vulnerabilities and mitigate risk. Each location should have its own plan and its own planning team that includes management and employees. That local planning team then coordinates with your company planning team. 

It would be best if you established a training exercise plan. When your facility neighbors’ other businesses, get together with management and owners of those businesses. Establish partnership and communication with those local businesses so that if something happens at one, the others are notified. You might consider sharing training and exercise responsibilities with neighboring businesses.  

Having an open environment where employees feel comfortable expressing concerns or reporting suspicious activity is essential. Provide training for employees on recognizing potential threats and what they should or should not do if an incident does occur. Provide opportunities for them to exercise that training. Consider developing crisis teams at each facility. 

Crisis teams are an all-hazards approach and can be utilized in any incident. Crisis team members should have first-aid, CPR, psychological first-aid, and triage training. They should also have basic Incident Command System training. The Incident Command System is the system that first responders use to manage incidents. Having a basic understanding of the system responders will be operating under allows for better coordination between crisis teams and first responders during an incident.  

The next thing you need to establish is a private-public partnership with local first responders in each community where you have facilities. It would help if you built relationships now before something happened. 

You want responders to be familiar with your facilities, plans, resources and be on a first-name basis with you. Building relationships with local emergency management, firefighters, law enforcement, and emergency medical services takes time but is well worth the effort. You will find local first responders are eager to work with you. Law enforcement would prefer to have a tour of your facility before trying to stop an active shooter in it, just as firefighters prefer a tour before fighting a fire there. Local responders and emergency management officials are eager to participate in exercises with your staff. Consider the value of having responders familiar with your facility, your management, and staff, have helped you with your emergency planning, and have done training and exercises with your facilities.   

All that being said, there are a few other things to consider. The first thing that you need to keep in mind as you develop your emergency plans is the psychological impacts of workplace violence and active shooter incidents. This must be included in the plan. You will want to consider providing counseling services and alternate workspace when employees are ready to return to work. It would be best to consider the impacts of overdoing active shooter and workplace violence drills. Some studies indicate that continuous active shooter drills at schools negatively impact children. It’s hard to imagine that would be much different with adults.

Some studies show that overtraining and exercising on a specific threat can make responders complacent about that hazard. Last but certainly not least, you should never hyper-focus on any hazard or threat. If you hyper-focus on one hazard, you neglect other hazards creating a weak spot in your armor. Keep a well-balanced, all-hazard approach.