Active Shooters in Healthcare

Over the last several years the number of Active Shooter events throughout the United States have increased, so too has the number of incidents within healthcare facilities.

Healthcare Facility Active Shooter

Many years ago many people viewed healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and medical centers, as places of refuge and a healing environments.  However, although they still are for the most part, there has been a steady rise in the number of workplace violence incidents as well as deadly shootings. Even though the chances are slim that any given facility will have an active shooter incident, there is just no way to predict where the next one will occur.

Security Risks for Active Shooter in Healthcare

The International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety association published the 2014 Healthcare Crime Survey and the report found that 9 out of 10 of the crimes tracked showed either they remained at the same level as 2013, or they rose.  In the category of serious crimes they all rose in numbers.

Train for Active Shooter Response

One of the most difficult types of serious and often deadly crimes that occur within healthcare is an active shooter, where someone shoots one or more persons, and the most important steps that a facility can take to prevent or respond to such an event is to plan ahead and train staff.

Over the years healthcare security groups have been working on industry standards and best practices for an active shooter in a healthcare setting, but for the most part they have been using protocols established for education to plan and train, or they were making it up as they went.

Healthcare Active Shooter Guide

Well now there is a published report titled; Incorporating Active Shooter Incident Planning  into Health Care Facility Emergency Operations Plan, and it provides healthcare organizations all the tools they need to properly prepare, plan and train staff.

There are several things that every healthcare organization can do to improve their security and reduce their risks.  They include conducting a security risk assessment to determine all potential security risks that may affect your business, and he also recommends that they provide their staff security awareness training.