AST Digital Magazine August 2017 Digital-Aug | Page 71

Volume 15
August 2017 Edition mand ( NAVSEA ) inside the Washington Navy Yard in Washington , D . C . It was the second-deadliest mass murder on a U . S . military base , behind only the 2009 Fort Hood shooting . Courtesy of the FBI and YouTube )
One thing I do know is this open office concept provides a problem when it comes to the active shooter threat ; there are no places to hide .
Since we ’ ve been teaching people to RUN-HIDE- FIGHT , my question becomes haven ’ t we set them up for slaughter since we are not providing security protection in our design concepts beyond the “ hardened ” perimeter ?
I ’ m not a firefighter and consequently have not attended any formal firefighter training , but I doubt if anywhere in their training , it says to tell people to stay in the building until they show up to save them .
We don ’ t do that for fire but we do that for active shooter incidents . Huh ?
We could easily design buildings and rooms within so that there are always at least two evacuation routes .
With all of the access control technologies available and procedures that the guards follow are we truly expecting a “ dedicated ” threat to be stopped at the perimeter ?
The first thing we need to do is get away from the idea that security is a guard at the gate or in the lobby and a badge machine that people can swipe their cards at to get through .
Second we have to admit that in order to be truly effective security must be integrated into every layer of physical security and has to be ingrained in the corporate culture .
Security is not an “ app ” that you add on .
Neither can it be a “ tax ” nor burden . If it is , it won ’ t be used .
For that reason , I like to concentrate on designing the environment so that people can do what we want them to do because they really can commit “ unwanted behaviors ”.
With that in mind , here are four mitigation strategies that can be incorporated into inhabited space design before an active shooter event occurs .
Provide Alternative Escape Routes at All Cost
For example this full-page infographic on fire safety which included examples of escape routes , courtesy of themapshack . com
We would need to make sure they ’ re opposite each other so the occupants don ’ t have to run in to the line-of-fire of the shooter .
This would allow people to escape the shooter , instead of hiding in the bathroom and waiting to be murdered or , at best , to fight to overwhelm the attacker .
Essentially , we ’ ve told and trained folks to wait and hope .
This paradigm shift would allow people to escape
instead of waiting to be murdered by hiding
, or at best , fighting to overwhelm the shooter .
Restrict
Movement
by
Compartmentalizing
Space
I believe we can compartmentalize transit spaces , such as hallways , stairwells , much in the same way as ships have bulkheads that com-
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