Overcome Fear with a Safety Plan in Your Nonprofit Workplace

Overcome Fear with a Safety Plan in Your Nonprofit Workplace

By: Active Shooter Prevention Expert Chris Grollnek – Overcome Fear with a Workplace Safety Plan for Active Shooter Prevention

Topic: Active Shooter Prevention in the Workplace and Training for Preventing Violence

Written for: Kathryn Engelhardt-Cronk, MissionBox co-founder and CEO

Kathryn says …

Questions about this level of security and active shooter preparedness for nonprofits is not my area of expertise. Therefore, I’ve called on two individuals with both knowledge and credentials in this field. I take your question very seriously for more than the obvious reasons. We hear daily about horrific acts of workplace violence and we are all concerned for our own safety and the safety of others. I was once threatened with gun violence by an unhinged, angry ex-employee. In my case, the situation was de-escalated, but the fear and stress were real and impacted my entire family.

Chris Grollnek, Active Shooter Prevention Expert says …

Active shooter preparedness covers a wide range of topics and is not just all about the mentally ill or angry individual who walks into your office, shooting. It encompasses more partly because, statistically, you are far more likely to be struck by lightning or killed by a shark than ever be involved in this sort of horrific scenario. More individuals are killed, annually, in automobile accidents in Texas, as compared to workplace gun-related deaths across the U.S.

I am not minimizing the suffering, loss and senselessness of even one person harmed by an active shooter or other violence in the workplace: I am just making the point that most workplace violence, as well as deaths from other traumatic causes, have nothing to do with guns. The media just doesn’t headline every incident of non gun-related workplace violence.

By necessity, active shooter preparedness is far more than gun violence protection-related drills. Good training covers far more common violence preparedness, such as anger-related dangerous behavior (the angry truck driver driving down a bike path in New York, for instance).

An important note: For anyone thinking of taking or contracting for this type of training, any workplace violence preparedness training instructor should be qualified and have extensive experience in this field. It is very important to do your homework! The wrong or inexperienced instructor can create unfounded fears, paranoia and inflict emotional damage, rather than educate employees. And when you interview a potential trainer, ensure that they are not leading with the “fear card.”

It is understandable and reasonable for you and your nonprofit colleagues to feel nervous about this unknown training. Nonetheless, I advise taking the training as a benefit presuming the company-provided the trainer is qualified.

That said, I can offer some reassurance with boundaries. Instead of looking at the training from a place of fear, attempt to view it as comparable to “fire safety training”. While the threat of fire is always there, we still conduct our daily lives knowing we need to be trained and prepared for a fire in our workplace; hence, annual fire safety drills. In the same way, we ready ourselves to remain safe should a fire occur, it’s best to get some general ‘what to do’ training in case of workplace violence. Knowledge is power, always, so don’t be afraid to learn more.”

I extend my thanks to our experts for responding to your question.

For the whole article, please visit their website:

https://www.missionbox.com/article/677/active-shooter-training-dont-be-scared-be-prepared

Filed by Chris Grollnek

Active Shooter Prevention Expert and Workplace Violence Policy Production Consultant

Chris Grollnek on OSHA
Chris Grollnek on OSHA and Workplace Violence Prevention

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