No one wants to think about a mentally unstable person coming into their work intent on turning innocent people into lifeless victims. It’s like if it isn’t talked about then it won’t happen.
But it does, and it is happening with even more regularity which makes it extra important for you to know what to do in the unfortunate event that your workplace is chosen as the battle grounds.
Certainly, each situation has its own circumstances and requires its own response so don’t feel like the ideas offered here are the only way to do things. You need to use your common sense and adapt your response based on the scenario that is presented to you.
The goal of this article is simply to teach you some basic pointers to help you create your own potentially lifesaving response to a violent workplace encounter. After all, the more you plan for and know beforehand, the greater your chances of survival.
With that thought in mind, let’s get you what you need to know to keep yourself (and those around you) safe…
#1: Create a response plan in your mind
This is perhaps the single most important thing you can do to make sure that you go home from work each and every night in the exact same condition you arrived in.
The more you prepare for something before it happens, the less the chance that you’ll freeze if faced with it because you’ll already know what you intend to do.
To start, take the time to visualize the possible violence that could occur in your place of employment. Maybe you work in a courthouse like I did and you tend to deal with a lot of unhappy, frustrated people.
Or, perhaps you have a coworker with an upset ex-husband that doesn’t want to let her go. Think about these things as distinct possibilities for violence, because they are.
But, don’t limit yourself there though as sometimes things happen that you don’t expect. You don’t want to be the woman on the news saying, “I never saw this coming” so you’re much better off when you expect the unexpected.
Once you’ve made these scenarios a possibility in your mind, it’s time to formulate a response to them. If someone busts into your workplace with a gun, for instance, what are your options? Is there a place you can run to? Is there a desk you can hide under? Are there exits close by?
These are all questions that you’re going to want to consider and have an answer to before you need one.
#2: Get help on the way
Although you’re going to want to come up with a quick reaction to protect your life if violence erupts right in front of you, the second thing you’re going to want to focus on is getting help on the way to your location. The sooner police can respond, the sooner the problem has a chance to be resolved by someone trained to resolve it.
Think about this in terms of what phones you have access to in your immediate facility. If you don’t have a phone right on your desk, do you have your cell phone nearby so that you can call using that? Ideally, if you work in a violence prone environment you should have a panic button; however, rarely is it this easy to get help on the way.
One thing to keep in mind is that most emergency lines (for instance, it is 911 in the states) are recorded from the moment you dial that last number (the “1” in this case). So, everything you say is picked up on a recording and the dispatcher answering the phone can play it back in the event that you suddenly cannot talk (whether due to injury or just the desire to stay hidden).
Also, even if you can’t speak into the phone, don’t hang up as leaving an open line allows the dispatcher on the other end to hear what is going on. Therefore, if the assailant in your work is screaming or does fire off some rounds from a firearm, the dispatcher will know this information without you even having to relay it.
#3: Be a good witness
Some people feel as if they have to be a hero like in the movies and find some way to save everyone around them. While this is extremely noble, making yourself a hero may put you right in the line of fire and you can’t help anyone if you’re injured…or worse.
Am I suggesting that you never help anyone else out that is in this type of situation with you? No, not at all. I’m simply saying that you need to exercise your common sense. You’re not bullet proof and you’re not expected to be Superwoman.
The best thing you can do is make yourself a good witness. Take in as much about the bad guy as you can. Is the assailant male or female? What clothes are they wearing (type, color, clean or dirty)? Any distinct physical characteristics (moles, tattoos, hair color, eye color, facial hair, disfigurement, limp, etc.)? Does she or he have an accent or smell of booze or stale cigarettes?
What direction did they go in when they left? Did they verbalize any threats? Was a weapon involved? Was one implied if not seen explicitly?
Anything that you noticed, no matter how small, needs to be passed on to law enforcement as it may be the one thing that points them in the right direction in their investigation so they can make an arrest and take the bad guy off the streets.
#4: Never give up
No matter what happens, even if someone walks in with guns blazing and shoots you point blank, don’t EVER declare yourself dead. People have survived encounters that realistically should have killed them solely due to their will to survive. Make yourself one of those people.
You may be injured and you may hurt, but that doesn’t mean that life is over for you. Keep the fight in your mind and your body will follow. Commit yourself to survive the situation and don’t let evil win.
If you don’t have the strength and energy to do it for yourself, do it for your family. Think of your children, husband, parents, family, and friends. Imagine telling them how you may have been scared to death, but you never gave up the idea that you were going to make it through this. Choose to be a fighter and a survivor.
Hopefully you never need any of this in your life, but if you do you’ll now be better prepared. As Edmund Burke once said, “Evil prevails when good men do nothing.” Or, in this case, women.
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