Iroquois Healthcare>Active Shooter Work Group

Active Shooter Work Group

IHA and Cayuga Medical Center are coordinating a work group project to support enhanced active shooter planning, training and exercise activities by identifying best practices, sharing lessons learned and developing supportive resources.

Background

In 2014, IHA and Oswego Health coordinated a work group project to develop an active shooter plan template. IHA developed further guidance outlining critical planning and response considerations based on work group discussions, law enforcement recommendations, and after action reviews. Hospitals were reimbursed $4,500 through their HPP contract for adopting an active shooter plan.

More recent federal guidance and after action recommendations detail additional planning and response considerations and highlight the importance of conducting training and exercises.

Designing and conducting training and exercises is time-intensive, requiring executive support, organization-wide buy-in, and participation of law enforcement and response partners. Challenges include not disrupting patient care, causing fear or alarm, and inclusion of all department and staff. In discussing how members have addressed these challenges, IHA has re-established a work group to identify best practices and share lessons learned.

2019-20 Work Group

Work group objectives in 2019-20 include:

  • Training – Identify best practices and develop tools and resources for conducting comprehensive staff education and training on:
    • Protective actions (e.g. “Run, Hide, Fight” and “ALICE”);
    • Law enforcement response protocols;
    • Facility/organization alert and communication policies.
  • Exercises – Identify best practices and develop tools for designing and conducting tabletop and functional exercises;
    • Identify trained exercise evaluators to assist in conducting exercises.
  • Mitigation – Identify best practices and resources for:
    • Conducting risk and security assessments;
    • Identifying options for access control and lockdown capabilities;
    • Mitigating workplace violence and risk.
  • Planning – The WG will review current recommendations and develop updated guidance on areas including:
    • Pre-incident planning with law enforcement, EMS et. al.;
    • Law enforcement response procedures;
    • Protective response actions (e.g. “Run, Hide, Fight”, A.L.I.C.E.);
    • Alert and notification procedures; and
    • Facility response procedures.