Go more in-depth with the HSI AVERT Active Shooter and Bleeding Control training
The online course on this page is a primer video. For more in-depth and in-person training, HSI offers Active Violence Emergency Response Training (AVERT). With AVERT, you’ll go beyond active shooter response training by also learning how to control life-threatening bleeding. AVERT is appropriate for organizations of all sizes and types. Learn more about active shooter response training >>

Barrett Pryce:

All right. Let's kick this off. Welcome to our program today. We are Vivid Learning Systems. And I just want to let you know how grateful we are that you're taking time from your day to be here with us because the topic today for all of us here is very personal. So Vivid is an online safety training provider but we are also a family of coworkers truly and I'll be introducing some of those folks here in a minute. My name is Barrett. I'm your cohost. Joining us will be my colleagues Jill James, our chief safety officer. And Chris Collier, our resident marketing specialist and also one of the people featured in our new active shooter response course.

Before I introduce them, we need to cover some light housekeeping to help you get the most from this experience. So at the bottom of your screen. You'll find the dashboard. And it's got a series of options for participation and I'd invite you to please take a moment to toggle through each one and just kind of get familiar with the on 24 system and tools.

Notice that when you click on each of the icons a window pops up. It's all pretty simple. Play special attention today to the Q and A icon. It's very easy to operate. Submit your questions for me, Jill or Chris anytime throughout the session because we're planning to have an open Q and A at the end of the hour. Please don't be bashful. Ask us anything at any time. We want to answer your questions. It makes for a richer experience for everybody.

Now, if your participation is interrupted or you feel that we're moving too fast, don't worry. After the event we will send you the link to a recording so you can watch this webcast at any time and share it. So now to avoid confusion you need to know that this event is not intended to be a full training session on an active shooter response. Our purpose today is to introduce you to a new training resource for active shooter response. Which is free. Anyone can take it. It's live online right now at Learnitvivid.com. Not based or built on fear. Takes under 30 minutes and it's interactive with knowledge checks and learning exercises throughout the course.

Also, it's not a video but a real training experience and that's important. So we will cover many of the learning objectives that are in the course. So you will definitely learn some things about this training topic that you did not know but think of this as a preview that will help explain why everyone needs this training, what is covered in the course and why, along with how to access it. Okay?

Now, let's get to it. The unfortunate truth is active shooter events are happening and more often than ever before. A 14-year FBI study shows a gradual increase to an average of 16.4 incidents annually. They're on the rise. Anecdotally, we all know this. We pay attention. We watch the news. Some estimates this year count over 90 incidents, which is staggering. Of the 12 deadliest shootings in the United States at least half have happened since 2007.

So those are some of the reasons why we built a course to teach you the steps to increase survival of these incidents. The skills are transferrable whether you are at work, on campus or in a public space. And as a public service we are offering this course to anyone who wants to take it and we invite you to share it with as many people as you care to. There is not catch here. There is no cost and we'd like to spend some time explaining why we, a for profit company admittedly, decided to do this. Because it's part of the story.

Now, in order to tell the "why" behind the course, I'd like to introduce my coworker and Vivid's Chief Safety Officer, Jill James. Jill, how about you provide some of the background on development of how this got started with us internally?

Jill James:

Sure Barrett and welcome everyone. I think we had about 700 people respond to our webcast today. So welcome to all of you who made time with us. Well, about nine months ago Barrett and I were at a safety conference in South Carolina when Wayne Freeman, a South Carolina State Patrol Officer took the stage to deliver a keynote address on active shooter response. While many of us had watch presentations on the topic or had seen a video or two. We had never heard anything quite like this before. He was riveting in his delivery but also his approach of incorporating brain science and how we as humans respond to life threatening situations.

And we were hooked and motivated.

Barrett:

Yeah, that's right. Over the course of that conference. Really no other speaker moved the audience quite like he did with that topic. He used a mix of humor and story telling and he brought the room to a near standing ovation. It was a different take on a tough subject. It caught our attention and that experience told us pretty much all we needed to know about the value of providing this training and gave us the right person to work with for expertise. Jill and I were sitting in different areas of the conference hall but we were exchanging texts in real time about this idea. That's how excited we were.

And it wasn't a new one. The concept had been floated before internally. But for some reason we had never moved forward. Later we recognized a personal motivation as added incentive, which we'll get to in a minute. And after Trooper Freeman was done. Jill actually challenged me to go connect with him out in the lobby and I ran out and promptly did that and I gave him this three minute breathless pitch on the idea of helping us build a course. And he was receptive and we ended up exchanging information and followed up down the road.

Jill:

And when Barrett and I came back to our headquarters in Washington State passionate about building the course. We had to prove up a business case for it like all wise for profit businesses must. But what we weren't mentioning at that time was that we also wanted to give it away.

Barrett:

Yeah and we thought a lot about what makes business sense related to offering an active shooter course. Well, first we recognized an outstanding need. Clients had been asking us for this training for several years. These horrific events continued to happen across the country and over time it became clear that we not only had a significant gap in our training library but a series opportunity to make life easier for safety pros and HR folks and people wondering what to do about this emerging safety issue.

And it became something we couldn't ignore.

Jill:

The fact is that active shooter events continue happening and they cut across business and social sectors. They've become really part of our vernacular. We all know what it means when we hear "San Bernardino, Sandy Hook, Charleston or Aurora."

Barrett:

And we wondered if organizations, individuals, campuses, and places of worship would feel compelled to offer training on survival if we provided a resource at no charge. Would they connect it to an organizational obligation, say to provide a safe work environment as with OSHAA's general duty clause. But they make that connection. What they see is a method to mitigate risk or liability, would it be a viable alternative to any training option out there or a lack thereof.

Jill:

Our CEO here at Vivid is Matt Hammer. He is continually challenging each of us to lead with what he calls, "courage and candor." He also repeats Vivid's brand promise so often that we actually all have it memorized. Which is, "We're the most knowledgeable and caring people in the safety training industry."

Barrett:

For the past three years I shared an office with Chris Collier. He's our coworker here at Vivid. He's on the webcast now and at some point in our relationship before we had even approached this project, Chris shared a personal story with me and a few others here at our company that he happened to be a survivor of the 1996 school shooting in Moses Lake, Washington. Now, fast forward to January of this year, Jill and I are working on the early stages of the course and we decided to ask Chris if he would be willing to share his story to enrich the content and to show how the actions taken that day by his school leaders are consistent with the learning objectives we wanted to teach in the course. Something to make it more real.

Without hesitation and to his credit Chris said he would share his story in keeping with our organizational mission. So, the course is built around twin testimonials and one of them belongs to Chris. Chris, why don't you take a minute now and just talk about why you decided to help with the course and share your story, which is a difficult one to relive even after all of these years.

Chris Collier:

Of course. Well, first of all I just want to thank everybody for attending today. This has been an extremely personal and important topic to me over the last 20 years. But after having gone through what I did go through and knowing that we were working to build a course for active shooter response training it was something that I wanted to connect to with my experience. Like I said, previously, it's a deeply personal event that changed my life and working for a safety company now, I know how important training is and this training in particular. So, here's an introduction to the course that we recorded to help explain the significance of this training and engage the folks who are taking it.

Whenever that day comes on the calendar, numbness is actually the first word that comes into my head. Maybe it's just because I've had over 20 years to think about it. But it's February 2nd. I do remember the shooting. I do remember it's special in terms that it's not ordinary like every other day.

Jon Lane:

Hundreds, maybe thousands of people's lives were changed that day, and my life certainly was. And I'm glad I was there. I was glad I was able to do what I did. I wish nobody would ever have to do that again.

Jill:

As it turned out building a business case to build and give away a course that didn't have federal training mandate, wasn't that difficult when you lead with your organizations mission. Helping save lives in high risk work environments, that's our job. In fact, we had coworkers who asked if they could volunteer their time to support the development of this course. And it wasn't a small amount. The internal support was overwhelming. So we had the courage, the candor, the story, the law enforcement guidance and the permission to make it happen. What's next?

Barrett:

Well research and a lot of it to make Jill and I subject matter experts. So we could feed Vivid Learning Solutions' team the content required to build a modern valuable course. A great training experience. Now Trooper Freeman travels the State of South Carolina delivering active shooter training five days a week and he gave us the blueprint on what to include in the course. A solid foundation on which to work and from there we started looking beyond run, hide, fight. And at the latest research on how people respond to the threat of extreme physical violence.

In particular, we looked to NYU expert, Dr. Joseph [Ledieu 00:12:53], who recently published and article rethinking run, hide, fight and who runs NYU Center for Neural Science.

Jill:

The more we researched and the more we learned about Chris' story the clearer it became that we needed to invite another voice into the course. And that person is Jon Lane. Jon was Chris' math teacher and the person who ultimately ended the violence that day in Moses Lake. This time it was Chris who drummed up the courage and candor to reach out to his middle school teacher to see if he'd be willing to share his very personal story and he was.\

Barrett:

Chris, what was that conversation with Mr. Lane like? Did you wonder if he'd remember you?

Chris:

You know I honestly did wonder that. We actually connected via social media. He was on Facebook and reached out to him and set up a conversation and he's not only a key figure from that time in my life but really a living hero. He went on to actually become the mayor of Moses Lake after many many years in the school system moving up to being a principal and so on. His actions alone saved many lives that day and that is not an exaggeration.

So we got him on the phone and talked about the project and he was intrigued but with a healthy skepticism. So following up, we provided some additional details and he agreed to make the short drive over and film a testimonial for which we are incredibly grateful and I'd like to share a clip of Jon's testimonial. One of several that are found throughout the course.

Jon:

I was teaching math a couple of doors down. I heard something down the hallway. Didn't know what it was. It was a pop, pop, pop. But I knew it wasn't right. And so I went down to investigate and when I got to the classroom, I pushed open the door and as soon as I pushed open the door, I recognized that it was gun smoke. So the first thing I did was I dove to the floor and hid behind a big desk and I was in the classroom.

Chris:

I want to say we were about halfway done with English class and Ms. Smith received a phone call and her demeanor changed significantly. You can say she almost turned pale.

Jon:

I laid on the floor there and looked at the classroom and saw terror in the eyes of the kids in their desk. There were kids on the floor. You could just tell that they had experienced something that was unimaginable.

Barrett:

Jill, would you know walk us through some of the learning objectives in the course to provide folks a clear picture of the content and what people can expect to learn from this training?

Jill:

Absolutely. So some of the specific things that you'll be able to take away from the course include, why we freeze. Now when a grizzly bear has spotted you as prey, we freeze hoping they won't see us. We do that because our brains are hardwired to respond that way. We can't do that when we're faced with an active shooter. This course offers strategies to get around that hardwired response. Many of us think of the pros and cons of a situation before we make a decision. Life threatening situations don't allow the time to weigh the pros and cons.

This course offers a section where you can take time to think how you'd respond now. So if you were ever to face it in the future you'd be ready to respond rapidly. Now, have you ever noticed an exit door with a big sign on it that says, "Alarm will sound if opened"? You look at it and think, "Oh, don't touch that. Better not go that way." This course will get you to notice those kinds of exits and other exits that you don't normally notice as you go on about your life, whether at work or at the mall or with your family.

And as adults we don't often think about hiding from someone. That seems like something we would reserve for a kid's game. This course invites you to think about hiding places or ways you could barricade yourself from an assailant. This course also teaches the importance of preparedness. Since we were kids in school we practiced fire drills and we knew exactly what to do when that alarm sounded. And depending on where you live, you know your response for a tornado, earthquake or a chemical release at your work place.

The same principles apply for active shooter situations. Having a plan for your workplace and in your personal life are critically important. It doesn't make you paranoid or lead you to live a fear-based life. Rather, a prepared and empowered life. And when all other options are off the table, your only choice may be to defend yourself and fight back. As unpleasant as that is to consider, we need to consider it and what our actions might be.

Understanding how our brains allow us to have control over our large muscles when faced with a imminent threat so we can better prepare ourselves to commit to the fight is important. This course explains the facts around fighting back. And finally, when help arrives, we want to talk to them. Tell them what's going on or beg for help when someone is hurt. In an active shooter situation, that's exactly what you don't want to do.

This course will teach you how to best support the work of law enforcement.

Barrett:

Thanks Jill, it was highly important to us and quickly became apparent that we did not want to create a fear-based course. But we wanted to empower people with knowledge needed to save their lives. So you aren't going to see blood or hear screaming because that kind of imagery can distract from the training and obscure learning objectives and that's part of the reason that this course explains new findings in neuroscience on how our brains and bodies respond to mortal danger and threats to, and the steps that you can take to rewire our innate response, the human autopilot. So you can actually think through whether to run, hide, or fight as opposed to freezing and prolonging that period.

Jill:

And as a safety professional it was important to me that we apply in what we call in the safety field, "life safety skills." And if you've ever practiced a fire drill or had training on what to do in case of a fire, a weather related emergency or chemical release, you've likely had training on how to exit a workplace, where you'd all gather, how to plan and how to account for people.

This course takes that a step further by inviting you to develop that situational awareness wherever you are. Whether it's at work, a sporting event, at the mall, at a community event or at your place or worship.

Barrett:

Yeah, this course, like all Vivid course, it isn't passive and it's not video training. There are places throughout the course where your knowledge will be tested and there is an assessment or test at the end. We also have a proficiency quiz online. And what you're seeing is an example of how knowledge is tested during the course with an interactive exercise that helps make the training stick and really connect those learning objectives.

Barrett:

Those learning objectives.

Jill:

Well we've just highlighted a little bit of the course for you now. It does end as it began with Chris and John. Well let's take a listen to them now.

Chris:

My first class would be in the room that the school shooting had taken place. I remember walking up to the classroom, kind of walking by and looking in, and walked to my locker to open it. I think my intent was to prolong the period so I didn't have to enter the classroom right away. Up behind me walks up John Lane. Mr. Lane was actually instrumental in getting me back in that classroom. It was actually the first time I cried, I thanked him for doing what he did because it was very selfless, he's a husband, a father, so he was the one that gave me the courage to go in the classroom.

Jon:

I think I had the right things to help me to survive, to deal with it, but I know that's not the case for everyone. When you are suffering, it's a sign of strength to go get help, it's not a sign of weakness. It's a very complex problem, how do you stop it? How do you prevent it? I'm not sure in this day and age that you can.

Chris:

But I believe that with training that the loss of life is going to dwindle because more and more people are gonna say no and they're gonna help put a stop to this. I'm not looking for somebody to become Rambo, just defend everyone, disarm an active shooter, send someone, come into the environment. Essentially just training yourself on what to do and what not to do.

Jon:

Practice. Practice it because you're gonna make better decisions if you practice what you're going to do in a stressful situation. It's more likely you're gonna make a better decision.

Chris:

In this day and age I think that's kind of everybody should have.

Barrett:

So folks you can take the training today and you can share the training experience with anyone. It's live right now, it's on our website, at learnatvivid.com and you can share the training with your co-workers, employers, family, just by sending a link. That's all you gotta do. I want to ask you for questions, we've got plenty of time for Q & A here. Please, we want to answer your questions about the source material, the course content, the learning objectives, the interactivity, feel free to write in now and ask them. We've got some great questions queued up now and we've got room for many more.

Jill:

That's right Barrett. This topic invites rich and powerful conversation and questions. We've had them and we know you will too. That's why we've built a resources link into the course and more onto our webpage dedicated to this training topic. So if you're looking for information on mental health or post traumatic stress, or you want to find out what training is available to local law enforcement, along with other supporting resources, we have a list on the same webpage.

Barrett:

Now before we jump into the live Q & A, I just want to thank you again for being here and with us today, and for caring enough about this topic to educate yourself and thank you in advance for taking and sharing this training resource with the people that you care about at home and at work. I also want to give a special thanks to Chris and John Lane for stepping up in support of the project, along with our learning solutions team for building a truly memorable training experience. And our friends of the law enforcement community, for all of the guidance along the way and now we're open for questions. You will see them pushed to the screen and our first question is, bare with me ... our first question is, how long is the course? Chris, Jill, I'll take that one.

The course is about 30 minutes, you could probably work through it in under that time. Okay, next question ... question is, can people take the training in a group or must it be done individually at personal computers, Jill I'm gonna let you take that one.

Jill:

Sure, thanks Barrett. The answer is both, you could do either or. If you wanted to get a group of people together you could project the course on a screen and work through it as a group or if you wanted to send links out to individuals in your company or in your home, you could do it and people can take the course as individuals as well.

Barrett:

Jill, I've got another one for you here. And the question is, can this course be customized for individual companies?

Jill:

Well certainly and so one of the ways that a company might want to customize it and if you remember, I had said earlier that employers often have emergency action plans that and how their company were to respond to other emergencies and those are supposed to be in writing according to the OSHA Laws anyway. So, one customization could be to put in bed that plan for your company into the course itself, or perhaps maybe you have specific exit routes or a gathering location that you wanted to highlight in a course and you'd be able to do that as well.

Barrett:

Thanks Jill, I have another question here. Question is, is the training free to anyone? Jill, I'll handle that one. The answer is yes, anyone can click the link to take the course on our learnatvivid.com/activeshooterresponse webpage and we do have a quiz available after you take the training because we want this to be an interactive experience and we want people to learn from it. That's why it's not a 30 minute video that's passive, this is active learning exercise.

It's absolutely free to anyone and if you wanted to track the course, in our platform, so we have a cloud platform and you want to track that activity say for your workforce, there's overhead involved for us and we have to charge a nominal fee to make that happen, but really you can do it yourself and anyone can take the course, it's a hundred percent free, a hundred percent free, anyone can take it, just by clicking the link.

Next question. The question is, is run, hide, fight the platform being used in this training? Jill do you want to speak to this one?

Jill:

Sure Barrett, you can chime in if you'd like. Yes that was part of what we had learned when we did our research with law enforcement and that continues to be the gold standard, however, much of what we added in was a lot to do with the brain science on why your body would respond in freeze zone first. So really what Barrett and I learned in our research is run, hide, fight isn't the order, and there is no specific order and actually the first thing that usually happens is freeze. Barrett if you'd like to chime in more on that go ahead.

Barrett:

Yeah, so we looked at this after doing a lotta homework on the topic and looking at all of the highly popular resources out there like run, hide, fight video. A lot of folks have seen it, it's probably the most popular resource out there. We look at this as beyond run, hide, fight. I referenced earlier some of the neuroscience involved and the latest research from Dr. Laddu at NYU. He wrote an article back in, I believe it was March that ran in the New York Times, called ... I believe the title was something to the effect of "Why run, hide, fight is wrong," and it's because those are conscious decisions and actions right? But before you can even get to that point, you've got to deal with the amygdala, there's a lot going on in your body and the first instinct, it's to freeze.

All right, so those are absolutely, it's consensus across the law enforcement community from what we found that some combination of evacuating your location, hiding or barricading, and fighting, those are things that have to happen and the order in which they do, it's not necessarily always run, hide, fight. It depends on your proximity to violence and the first thing you have to do is be able to take action.

Next question...

Jill:

And Barrett by the way, while your queuing that one up, as you can all tell whose listening, Barrett is the one who did the brain science research and spoke with the researcher at NYU. So he is very well versed on this now, so thanks for sharing that perspective Barrett.

Barrett:

Thanks Jill. Next question, is the lead into the training available to present to management for letting employees take the training? Yes and anyone who asks for it, we will support you with those resources, so if there's a specific clip or video that you'd like, we'd be happy to send you whatever you need to help spread this resource and get your people to take this free online training experience.

Next question. Maybe this is one we can tackle as a team here. Do you discuss an armed response to a shooter? I'll go ahead and start. Now this is, there's a lot of controversy around this issue. Those folks who've been following it know that okay. Specifically we are talking about a civilian armed response to a shooter. We do reference conceal carry permit holders in that situation in the course and the reason is, to ignore it and to say nothing is to be putting your head in the sand. These people are our there, they are conceal carry weapon permit holders, their on their person. So to create a training resource that is at the front of where the discussion is as it evolves, ignoring it would be doing you all a disservice and anyone who takes the training.

We don't say much about it, there is a reference though and the fact is it doesn't matter who you are and if you have a concealed weapons permit because laws varies from state to state. It doesn't matter who you are. You have a constitutional right to defend yourself if your threatened with this sort of violence. It's just a fact and that doesn't change based on your status as a licensed permit holder, right? The course doesn't dwell on this subject but it absolutely raises the issue and opens it up for discussion because you can't ignore it, you can't ignore it. There's a lot of fear out there, and I don't think anything that's said in the course is scary for anyone who takes the training or organizations that want to share it. It's fairly neutral and you'll notice that once you get into it. Jill?

Jill:

Right, Barrett and so the, one of the things that we heard from law enforcement when we were talking about this specifically. When they were coaching us through how to respond when law enforcement arrives, they said to be sure to let people know who are permitted carriers, that they need to disarm themselves when law enforcement arrives. That might sound a little counterintuitive however, it makes a lot of sense when you think about law enforcement response. Their eyes are tracking for someone with a weapon, that's their goal and you want to make sure that they don't think you're the assailant, you want them to get to the person that they're actually looking for. So the course talks about the importance of disarming yourself when law enforcement arrives.

Barrett:

Thanks Jill. Next question here ... how long does vivid plan to make this training available for use? The answer is short and sweet, in perpetuity. We built this resource, we're putting it out there, we're not gonna take it away in a week, a month, in fact we've not even discussed it. We've made it live, we've made it accessible, and we're gonna let it live on ... online and our hope is that it's shared with as many people as possible which is another reason why it's not fear based and we strayed from that.

Some of the resources you'll see out there, like run, hide, fight, there's a bookie man, there's blood, etc. We want this probably palatable because we don't want to distract from the learning objectives and we also want folks to take it. It's going to live online on the website and it's going to stay there.

Another question here ... and the question is, it was mentioned that a closer look at run, hide, fight might be needed, does your program deviate from run, hide, fight? The answer is not necessarily, as I mentioned before we look at it as, run, hide, fight plus I think or beyond run, hide, fight. We cover a little bit, spend some time on the brain science as we mentioned. We talk about emergency preparedness in concepts of situational awareness that are taught in law enforcement and taught in the military, but not necessarily taught to the civilians. That's the kind of critical stuff you're not gonna get from a seven minute run, hide, fight video.

Another question ... bare with me here, I'm gonna push this up. I just took the course, and it is short and sweet but not as detailed as the current run, hide, fight course from DHS. The brain science is a good edition, but the video in the DHS course are more instructional than the testimonial videos. I just want to say that, this is a training resource we provided that we think is a great supplement to live training for which there is not substitute and any EH & S pro will tell you that.

We want folks out there to consume as many resources as they can and get educated on the issue, so it's not something we've ever shied from and we provide plenty of resources on the web page for folks to follow up and learn a little bit more and educate themselves. It's not the only free course available, there are ... FEMA's got a course out there that's online also, and that's free, and that's been up for a year. The problem as we saw it, it's a useful resources, it just wasn't as engaging and we thought we could do better and I think we did.

Jill:

Barrett, I'd like to add that, yesterday I heard from my local police chief in the community in which I live and he was thanking for a resource. He said as a police department, their often asked for supplementary training opportunities to compliment some live training or to just be able to give to employers or community members when their not able to deliver things on their own. So was happy to know that there was another resource out there.

Barrett:

Thank Jill, I've got a question for you and that question is, what type of follow up would you recommend to anyone who has taken this training?

Jill:

Sure, like I had said before, this kind of topic really insights a lot of different reactions. Sometimes people really want to talk about why is this happening in our country? Or what about mental health issues? I guess, a place to start after this kind of training would be to really determine what's your plan? If you're talking as a company or an employer, what is going to be your response plan? How are you as individual members of one team? What is your role going to be? How are you going to account for people? Where are your gathering locations going to be? What is the plan for after an event happens?

You know one of the things that Chris shared in his story that you didn't hear today was that after the event took place, all the students in his school were gathered in the gymnasium where they could account for everyone. Then they had all of the kids picked up by buses and they were bused to another school location where they were reunited with their families. It's very important to plan for after something happens as well so that you can connect people with the people they need. In your individual lives, follow up would be to do those pre-planning things. I'm a safety professional, so this is the kind of thing that I live my everyday life doing, not just because of this topic but when I'm out and about doing my normal life whether it's with my son at a public event or with my family and my church, I'm pointing out and asking my son, find two ways out of this location? Then he'll kind of shrug and sigh and go, "Oh mom, here you go, crazy safety lady again," and say, "The door over there and the door over there," and I said, "That's right, so we have two options out and where are we gonna gather," and then we decide on that.

Again does that make us paranoid individuals, scared about our daily lives? No. Does it make us prevent us from doing something? No it absolutely does not, it makes us ready to respond and that's what this course invites you to consider and invites you to continue the conversation for follow up.

Barrett:

Yeah, I'd like to chime in as well, that is actually been something that I kind of train myself even after going through this ordeal 20 years ago. I can't walk into a room or large area without notifying at least two exits. Walking around large groups of people, crowds, I'm looking for the ... the abnormal, what is not normal day to day activity and that's my greatest thing that I really liked being in the course was just the situational awareness which is something very important.

Thanks Chris, Jill. Got another question here, folks we have a lot of current clients joining us today which is fantastic. Here's a popular question we've been receiving. Is this training available in my current training package and can I assign it to my employees the same way as I can my other courses? The answer to that is it may not be added right now automatically but if you contact your customer service advocate, one of the four or five excellence people we have downstairs, all you gotta do is ask them and they'll give it to ya. You can assign it, so for our current clients it should be easy, and just contact your CSA.

Barrett:

Should be easy, just contact your CSA and thanks for asking that question.

Next question. The question is, can we acquire the training program for use with our own LMS so we can track completions and/or assign it to our learners? I believe that's 100% on the table. That's something we are willing to work with you on, get in touch and we'll explore options. Yes, our content works for and I don't think I've ever heard of an incidence where it didn't work in another LMS. So feel free to make that inquiry and we'll absolutely get to work in see what we can do for you. All right.

Bare with me. Here's a good question I believe for Jill. The question is, I've been told having a gathering spot for everyone is the wrong thing to do in active shooter incidents because this makes it easier for the shooter to pick targets.

Jill, do you want to explore that nuance?

Jill:

Sure. So this is making the assumption that people are running away from the danger, right? If you have the option to run, you're running and exiting away from the building. You're running and exiting away from the shooter, right? Having a place where you can account for your people in the aftermath is important. You know, now whether or not the shooter is following a mass exodus of people, sure, that absolutely can happen it's not like there's a predictable pattern to this but having a place for your people to gather and running away from the carnage would be a preference. Like all gathering location identified places whenever you're planning for an emergency, you'd want to pick two.

It's true whether you're having a chemical release and you have people gathering in an area you know blocks or several blocks away from your workplace or under the flagpole at your workplace and the prevailing winds are blowing the chemical on employees, you'd need to have an alternate area anyway. So having to designated places where you're going to be able to have people account for one another is important.

I understand your point and I get it. I think it's still something important to put in a plan.

Barrett:

Thanks for the question and answer, Jill.

Got another question here. The question is, it would be interesting ... I guess it's more of a general comment but a helpful one. It would be interesting to have something for the skeptical suits about collateral risks and costs, business continuity, loss of operations capabilities, increased insurance costs, cost support PTSD counseling, attrition and costs for relocation in the wake of an active shooter event.

I think those are all real and valid considerations that very often get overlooked. I want to thank you for raising that issue now.

Next question. The question is, is this taught in our schools today? I'll take a stab at that and then, Jill, maybe you want to dovetail?

Schools have lockdown procedures, emergency policies. If you've been following the news and following the subject carefully. Faculty and staff are receiving and training and it's not mandated unless it is by your particular state and some states have addressed this kind of training. Are receiving live training from local law enforcement entities.

Is anyone taking this course in school today? No. We just launched it last week. Our hope is that they can. It's a great supplement to what schools may be doing now. It fits into their emergency response planning.

Jill, you want to carry that one?

Jill:

Sure. You know when Barrett and I first starting working on this, I started engaging in conversation with my son who is in eighth grade. I said, "Hey, can you tell me a little bit more about when you do a lockdown procedure?" Understanding that the first time he told me about it was in Kindergarten and, as a mother of a kindergartner, you're a little bit shocked in thinking, "Oh, my gosh, really? Do they have to...

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The online course on this page is a primer video. For more in-depth and in-person training, HSI offers Active Violence Emergency Response Training (AVERT). With AVERT, you’ll go beyond active shooter response training by also learning how to control life-threatening bleeding. AVERT is appropriate for organizations of all sizes and types. Learn more about active shooter response training >>