The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 created OSHA, which sets and enforces protective workplace safety and health standards requires employers to comply with the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, which requires them to keep their workplaces free of serious recognized hazards.
New laws and regulations, like SB 553 in California, have been passed designed to prevent workplace violence of based on all hazards/all crimes analysis, including increasingly frequent “active shooter” incidents. As a result, it requires significant resources dedicated to analysis, assessment, and facility and SOP improvement to prevent, prepare, respond, and recovery to workplace violence incidents. California regulations will be a model for similar laws in states and cities across the country as well as under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and the General Duty Clause.
The current law includes the following components for workplace violence prevention strategies enforced by Cal/OSHA:
1. A written workplace violence prevention plan as part of an Injurty Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP) containing numerous elements including identifying, evaluating, and investigating hazards; employee communications; and procedures for reporting concerns. The regulations also include requirements like addressing methods that an employer should use to implement the plan in conjunction with other employers on multi-employer worksites, as well as procedures to respond to workplace violence incidents, and emergencies, including active shooter threats.
2. In addition, the plan must be reviewed annually and after any workplace violence incident that results in an injury to ensure it is comprehensive and effective.
3. Maintaining a violent incident log, which must describe in detail each and every incident, post-incident response, and workplace violence injury investigation.
4. Implementation of a comprehensive training program and various other record-keeping requirements, and updated termination policies.
How can AEGIS Help?
AEGIS Security & Investigations provides comprehensive consulting and training services to meet this Federal and California OSHA workplace violence prevention standard.
Our Level 4 Workplace Violence Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Workshop w/ Demos meets this standard for most small to medium businesses in a single day. It includes both a rapid security assessment and a 4 hour workplace violence and active shooter prevention, preparedness, and response workshop with demos for our client’s employees.
A rapid security assessment consists of an abbreviated broader assessment than the more detailed security, risk, and vulnerability assessment. It’s designed to be an initial review if an assessment has never been completed or a review is needed. The customized rapid security assessment is based on crime prevention through environmental design principles with an emphasis on target hardening and root cause analysis as well as cursory review of both the standard operating procedures and emergency action plans. Prior incidents are discussed while perceived and potential threat vectors are identified.
At the conclusion of the assessment, a detailed set of field notes will be compiled to provide the basis for drafting proposed physical, SOP, and EAP improvements
In comparison to a Rapid Security Assessment, a far more detailed Security, Risk, & Vulnerability Assessment is designed to address all hazards/all crimes for our client, their staff, assets, and operations. This customized security assessment is based on crime prevention through environmental design principles with an emphasis on target hardening and root cause analysis as well as review of both the standard operating procedures and emergency action plans. Prior incidents are discussed while perceived and potential threat vectors are identified.
The step-by-step progression of the program is as follows:
- Intelligence gathering & preparation – environmental reports, crime reports, history of the site, historical issues, problem areas, current security program, and desired client initiatives
- Physical site assessment – CCTV, CPTED, alarms, access control, structural components, systems, lighting, etc
- Standard operating procedures assessment – a review of the typical protocols as they relate to security
- Contingency planning and emergency operations plan assessment
- Security program assessment – Post orders, officer implementation, supervision, quality control, etc
- Analysis and discuss of single point of failures and initial findings
- Guided discussion with the client representatives, department heads, and relevant stakeholders
- Penetration testing designed to test security protocols
- Research and analysis of potential solutions to findings
- Deliverable draft written and supplied to the client for review and analysis
At the conclusion of the assessment, a detailed outline categorized by criticality with options for considerations will be compiled to provide the basis for drafting physical, technological, Standard Operating Procedures, and Emergency Action Plan options for consideration. The final deliverable includes a color coded summary that easily defines in multiple categories reviewed that includes:
GREEN – The current security framework is generally acceptable by industry standards such as: effective and proper use of security techniques, secure facilities/access control, effective use of technology and physical security improvements, and well defined security and emergency plans.
YELLOW – The current security framework has minor or elevated issues that could be detrimental to the limitation of liability, impede risk management, or affect contract stability. Examples may include: customer service issues, potential safety hazards, exploitable gaps in security operations, observational training deficiencies, improper use of equipment, and incomplete or deficient security plans.
RED – The current security framework has severe issues that could immediately affect liability, can be considered dangerous or negligent, or compromises safety or security of people or property. Examples may include: no formalized policies or procedures, no contingency planning, no or minimal training, excessive use of force, dereliction of duty, safety hazards, and clearly visible gaps in security operations.
Upon the conclusion, our firm is capable of facilitating additional processes required to complete the security program including sourcing, staffing, plan development, and managing improvements. Our cross functional analysis and end-to-end support differentiates from other firms by allowing us to manage the entire process from inception through full scale deployment and operation, all while supporting core business strategies of high ROI, open communication, and efficiency.
These workshops are designed for individuals from the public and private sector and designed for pre-law enforcement response. The goal of this training is to establish a baseline reaction coming from the perspective of a potential victim to active shooter incidents, retrain the instinctual reactions, and offer practical solutions to countering threats. Participants will be required to in good health and to sign a liability and medical waiver prior to participating in workshops with demos.
Level 1: Workplace Violence Response – How to Survive an Active Shooter Lecture – 1 Hour
Maximum Participants: 100
Participants will learn proven techniques on how to survive an active shooter taught by a security expert and professional instructor. This training is designed for civilians and private sector professionals to increase their personal resiliency and the likelihood of surviving an incident before the police arrive. Additional information regarding statistics pulled from FBI and related reports will be discussed to support developing the threat profiles for suspicious persons. Threat response topics include: how to escape during an incident, how to barricade and lock down, how to report to law enforcement, and how to fight back using improvised weapons, if absolutely necessary. By the end of the lecture, participants will have a thorough understanding of how active shooter incidents begin and evolve.
Level 2A: Workplace Violence Response – How to Survive an Active Shooter w/ Demos – 2.5 Hours
Maximum Participants: 50
The second level workshop includes the “How to Survive an Active Shooter Lecture.” In addition, students will learn to deploy the concepts taught during the training in an environment that will test their skills and thought processes, challenging them to react faster under stressful situations. Participants will experience simulated scenarios in their own environment (school, workplace, etc) in which they will be forced to react using the tools and techniques they’ve learned to survive when the bullets start flying. This kind of training is as real as it gets.
Level 2B: Workplace Violence Prevention, Preparedness & Active Shooter Response – 2.5 Hours
Maximum Participants: 50
The second level workshop includes the “How to Survive an Active Shooter Lecture.” In addition, case studies will be reviewed, prevention measures will be taught, and signs of impending violence will be discussed while threat profiles for suspicious individuals are created. Pre-planning, attention to detail, and environmental situational awareness are stressed. Included table top exercises that test participants’ knowledge, understanding, and reaction to perceived threats and crowd source immediately risk deployable mitigation strategies to minimize potential threats to the workplace.
Level 3: Workplace Violence Prevention & Active Shooter Response Workshop w/ Demos – 4 Hours
Maximum Participants: 50
The third level workshop includes all of the above Level 1 and Level 2 content to create a comprehensive, hands-on, immersive, learning workshop. It is considered AEGIS’ gold standard program employers should provide to their staff in today’s elevated threat environment.
Level 4: Executive Team Security Assessment w/ Level 3 Prevention, Preparedness & Response Workshop – 8 Hours
Maximum Participants: 20
The fourth level workshop begins with a customized physical security assessment based on crime prevention through environmental design with an emphasis on target hardening and root cause analysis as well as review of both the standard operating procedures and emergency action plans. Prior incidents are discussed while perceived and potential threat vectors are identified. At the conclusion of this session, a detailed outline will be compiled to provide the basis for drafting proposed physical, SOP, and EAP improvements. The second half of this session is a delivery of the Level 3 Workshop above for up to 50 participants. This full day program is designed for top level directors and executives interested in adapting their current security programs to the prevailing threats in the world today.
Upgrade Demos to Live Fire Drills – (weapon, gear and role player)
Maximum Participants: 50
Upgrade to Include Stop The Bleed – Open Wound Bleeding Control Workshop – 1 Additional Hour
Maximum Participants: 50
Online Active Shooter Training
30 Minutes Each
These active shooter training courses are designed based on AEGIS’ one hour live lectures. They have been adapted for a unique immersive online delivery that challenges participants to make decisions that could be the difference between life and death.
Active Shooter Response
Participants learn theory and proven techniques on taught by security experts based on the Run, Hide, Fight methodology. This online active shooter training is designed for civilians and private sector professionals to increase their personal resiliency and the likelihood of surviving an incident before the police arrive. By the end of the online course, participants will have a thorough understanding of how active shooter incidents evolve, increasing their resiliency. Topics include:
- Situational awareness
- Personal preparedness
- Understanding threat vectors
- Evacuation techniques
- Finding cover and concealment
- Lockdown methodology
- Tactics to fight back as a last resort
- Case study scenarios
Active Shooter Preparedness
This course is an introduction to security and emergency preparedness principles. It will provide the participant with an understanding of emergency preparedness fundamentals in the workplace.
This course will teach the participant to:
- Assess capabilities and vulnerabilities in their environment
- Develop and test a security and emergency plan
- Understand the importance of policies and procedures
- Learn via delivering training courses and exercises with drill
The purpose of this training is to teach you that preparedness allows us to be proactive in mitigating the damage a threat can cause. Keep in mind not having a plan or being prepared for an emergency can result in loss of time, resources, money, and lives. “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail”
Active Shooter Prevention
Through practical methodologies, this course is designed to train the participant in understanding how critical the concept of prevention is required to actively save lives and secure assets.
This course will teach the participant to:
- Recognize indicators for potential violence
- Understand the difference between proactive and reactive security
- Achieve deterrence through proactive security
- Analyze the methods of operation of a potential attacker
- To report suspicious activity and to mitigate risk prior to an attack
The objectives of this course are to identify best practices in incident prevention with the goal of mitigating risk from, interrupting the planning of, and deterring an attacker from choosing your location to carry out their plan of attack.
Workplace Violence Self Assessment
Training programs historically are instructor-based lectures that do not engage participants’ core understanding of the principles learned during a course. Today, we will apply all the security awareness principles in our environment in realistic and meaningful ways.
The Active Shooter Self Assessment Table Top is a test designed to help the participants acknowledge, through diverse assessments, the information provided in the modules included in the Power to Arrest course.
The test will be divided in:
- Open questions to stimulate the participant to think about what to do when facing an attack.
- Open questions related to a case scenario, how the participant felt, and how much is remembered.
- Questions in a PDF format for the participant to print to have them present at all times.