Do We Have to Worry About the Possibility of an Active Assailant Incident, Again
Mass Shooting Tracker, which is a crowd-sourced database, indicates 268 incidents of mass shootings within the US as of May 26, 2021. This tracker includes all incidents where a gun was used to kill or injure four or more people. Many of these incidents are domestic, occurring at home or in a family setting. I listed the nine events that are workplace related incidents. One of the ten occurred in a medical facility. The healthcare shooting occurred at Allina Clinic Crossroads in Buffalo, Minnesota. The gunman killed one and injured another 4 persons. The other eight included:
May 2nd Columbus, Ohio
May 1st Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin
April 15th Indianapolis, Indiana
April 8th Bryan, Texas
March 31st Orange, California
March 22 Boulder, Colorado
March 16th Atlanta, Georgia
January 9th Chicago, Illinois
Compared to previous years, like 2019, the US is on track to meet or break the 2019 number of mass shooting incidents.
So, does healthcare need to worry about the risk of an active assailant breaching healthcare boarders? Unfortunately, the level of active shooter or active assailant events appear to be on the rise. So, as the Corona virus cloud clears, it is time dust off our active assailant training programs. But before we bring out and dust off our old plans, it is important to look at current response protocols and update our program. I see two action items that need review and implementation leading into 2021.
Unique to healthcare, research conducted by John Hopkins and the American Hospital Association, suggest that active assailants have an estranged or intimate relationship with the victim(s) and 25% were former or current patients. Fifty-nine percent of the active assailant events have occurred within the walls of the hospital. This means that more than half occur within the hospital, occur because of an estranged or intimate relationship and could be current or former patients. This information is important in the prevention of an active assailant. Training programs need to include these statistics in training updates, so staff are aware of the causes. Being able to identify a potential active assailant is very important in the prevention process. That means security and hospital staff need to be situationally aware. Training on situational awareness for security officers and all employees is a successful measure in preventing an active assailant incident. When healthcare workers are situationally aware, they can spot potential problems with patients and their family members helping to identify possible escalating assailants. This is accomplished when staff identify exceptions in routine behaviors that occur within the day-to-day activities and interactions between visitors, patients and staff. Situational awareness training can help to identify estranged or persons in crisis stopping them before they become active assailants.
Most hospitals have instituted and trained staff on “Stop the Bleed”. If not conducted during the past year, it is time to help security officers refocus on active assailant prevention and reaction. Training security staff on “Stop the Bleed” helps them focus on their important role in active assailant response. Engaging them in the active assailant response process in a meaning full way while enlightening them to the importance of training and the consequences of an active assailant attack. “Stop the Bleed” training along with the purchase of response kits, strategically placed through out the hospital, provides a necessary avenue for the commitment to further active assailant training.
Adding situational awareness training provides security officers, as well as all hospital staff, the tools necessary in the identification of a potential assailant. Providing “Stop the Bleed” training allows security staff to help those injured in a catastrophic active assailant event and safe lives.
If you need assistance in developing a situational awareness training program or Stop the Bleed program, let me help. We have resources available for both programs. Check out our resource page for more information and send me an email.
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