Response Planning
Active Shooter Response Plans Employees Can Actually Follow
We help leadership turn a vague policy into a clear, practiced response plan — who sounds the alarm, where people go, what they do in the first minutes and how the injured get help.
- HSI Authorized Training Center
- AHA Certified Instructors
- OSHA Outreach Training
- Navy Corpsman Instructor
- Onsite & Online Training
Why an Active Shooter Response Plan Comes Before the Drill
Training tells people what their options are. A plan tells them how those options work in this building: which doors lock, where the alarm is triggered, which rooms have no windows, where the bleeding control kits hang. Without that, even well-trained employees improvise, and improvisation under extreme stress is slow.
Our active shooter response plan training is aimed at the people who own the plan — owners, HR, facilities, security and safety leads. We review what you have, walk the site, fill the gaps and then rehearse the plan with staff. The hands-on workforce program itself, built on HSI-certified AVIRT curriculum, is described on our active shooter training for employees page.
What a Workable Response Plan Includes
Most plans we review cover evacuation well and leave the rest vague. These are the pieces we make sure are specific.
- Alerting: how anyone can warn the building quickly — overhead page, mass text, panic button — and the plain words they should use
- Escape routes: primary and secondary exits from each work area, including routes that avoid the main entrance
- Lockdown spaces: rooms that lock or can be barricaded, with solid walls and a way to stay out of sight
- Roles: who calls 911, who gives responders access, who manages the camera system or floor plans
- Medical response: where bleeding control and first aid kits are, and who is trained to use them
- Visitors and the public: how staff direct customers, students or patients who do not know the building
- Accountability and reunification: where people gather afterward and how you confirm everyone is accounted for
- After the event: communication with families and media, employee support, and returning to work
Prevention and Reporting: The Part of the Plan Before the Plan
The best response is the one you never need. Many violent incidents are preceded by behavior that worried someone — threats, fixation on a grievance, sudden comments about weapons, protective-order situations that follow a coworker to work. A strong plan gives employees a clear, confidential way to report those concerns and names who acts on them.
We help you define that path: who receives reports, how quickly they are reviewed, when HR, security or law enforcement gets involved, and how the reporting employee is protected. We also look at physical measures that support the plan, such as controlled entrances, visitor sign-in and lighting in parking areas.
What Employees Do in the First Minutes
Active violence events tend to unfold quickly, often before law enforcement can reach the scene. That makes the first decisions — made by ordinary employees — the most important part of the response. The widely taught federal guidance is to run, hide or fight, in that order of preference. A good plan translates each into concrete local actions.
Get out if there is a safe path
Leave belongings, help others come with you if you can, keep moving away from the threat, and call 911 once you are safe. Your plan should tell people which exits lead away from likely danger and where to regroup.
Secure a space if you cannot get out
Get into a room, lock and barricade the door, turn off lights, silence phones and stay out of view behind solid objects. Do not open the door for anyone who cannot prove they are law enforcement. Your plan should name these rooms ahead of time.
Act as a last resort
If your life is in immediate danger and escape is impossible, commit to disrupting the attacker using whatever is at hand and, ideally, with others. This is a decision people need to have thought about before the moment comes.
When Police and EMS Arrive
This part of a plan is often missing, and it matters for everyone's safety.
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Hands visible
Empty hands, raised and open. Drop anything you are carrying. Officers do not yet know who is a threat.
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Follow commands
Do exactly what officers say. The first team in is focused on stopping the threat, not on helping the injured.
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Share what you know
Location, number and description of attackers, weapons seen — brief and factual.
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Keep caring for the injured
Medical teams may not enter until the area is secured. Trained coworkers holding pressure or applying tourniquets bridge that gap.
How We Build Your Response Plan
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Review what exists
We read your current emergency action plan, security procedures and any past drill notes.
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Walk the site
We look at entrances, locks, sightlines, alarm methods, kit locations and assembly areas, shift by shift.
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Close the gaps
We recommend specific changes — named lockdown rooms, clearer alert wording, added kits — written in language employees will understand.
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Train and rehearse
Staff learn the plan and practice it, usually alongside the AVIRT program, so decisions and skills are rehearsed together.
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Keep it current
We suggest a review cycle so the plan keeps pace with remodels, staffing changes and new tenants.
Fitting the Plan Into Your Emergency Action Plan
Many employers already have an emergency action plan for fire and severe weather. OSHA's emergency action plan standard, 29 CFR 1910.38, lists the elements such a plan includes when one is required: reporting procedures, evacuation routes, accounting for employees and more. An active threat section fits naturally inside that structure, so staff learn one plan rather than several competing ones.
There is no federal OSHA standard written specifically for active shooters, and requirements for schools, healthcare and other sectors vary by state. We will not tell you that a plan guarantees compliance or safety. What a written, practiced plan does is make sure your people are not deciding everything from scratch on the worst day of their lives.
Response Planning FAQs
How is this different from your active shooter training?
This service focuses on the plan — the building-specific decisions leadership makes. The employee program teaches the skills and decision-making everyone needs. Most organizations do both, and we can deliver them in the same visit.
How often should we practice the plan?
At least once a year is a reasonable baseline, plus whenever the building, layout or staffing changes significantly. New employees should learn the plan during onboarding.
Do you work with schools and public buildings?
Can employees learn the basics online first?
Yes. Our online workplace violence course introduces warning signs and reporting before the live session.