Emergency Response & Active-Shooter Situations

What you should be able to do

• Set emergency priorities: scene safety, notification, care within training, and documentation.
• Provide useful information to dispatchers and responders.
• Apply Run, Hide, Fight as a survival framework.
• Avoid interfering with arriving law enforcement.

Start with scene safety

A guard who becomes a second victim cannot help. Identify hazards, safe routes, weapons, fire, traffic, electricity, chemicals, and crowd movement. Call 911 or the required emergency contact promptly. Give location, nature of the emergency, number of people involved, suspect description, hazards, and a callback number.

Work within training

Provide first aid or emergency assistance only within your training, equipment, policy, and the situation. Do not make medical diagnoses. Avoid moving an injured person unless immediate danger or trained procedure requires it. Guide responders to the location and preserve access routes.

Active shooter: Run

When a safe escape path exists, move away from the threat, leave belongings, help others when possible without trapping yourself, prevent people from entering the danger area, and keep hands visible when law enforcement is encountered.

If escape is not possible: Hide

Get out of view, lock or barricade doors, silence devices, turn off lights when appropriate, spread out rather than clustering, remain quiet, and prepare to communicate location and suspect information. Cover is preferable to concealment when available.

Fight only as a last resort

Physical resistance is a last-resort survival option when life is in imminent danger and escape or effective hiding is not possible. Commit to action, use available objects, and work with others if present. This is not a general instruction to seek the attacker.

When police arrive

Do not run toward officers, grab them, or make sudden movements. Drop objects, keep empty hands visible, follow commands, and understand that initial officers may move toward the threat rather than stop to provide medical care. Give concise information if asked.

Common exam and job mistakes

• Entering a dangerous scene before calling help.
• Stopping to collect personal belongings during an active-shooter evacuation.
• Using an elevator during a fire unless the emergency plan specifically allows it.
• Approaching arriving officers with a radio or object held out.