Active Shooter Drills to Be Conducted on Both Campuses
At National Life, we’ve all participated in fire drills. While inconvenient, these drills help us prepare for a fire. Another threat, one that sadly has become somewhat common in the news, is that of an active shooter in the workplace.
To do our best to prepare our employees if this scenario were to ever play out, active shooter drills will take place on both campuses, starting in Texas first.
The drill in Texas will occur on Wednesday, November 2nd at 2:00 pm and will last roughly 30 minutes. We know how busy everyone is but we strongly encourage everyone to participate.
What to Know in Advance
Before the drill occurs, watch this short video. It focuses on what to do in the event that someone with a gun is in the building, and that is run, hide and/or fight. First, run from the shooter. If you can’t run, then hide: under your desk, in a closet, wherever you can make yourself as unapparent and small as possible. If the assailant is too close, then fight. Always remember to turn your cell phone ringer and vibration off.
The alarm will sound on our Texas campus at 2:00 pm. When this happens, a team of observers wearing safety vests will walk around the floors to determine issues with our preparedness. Please act as though these observers are the actual active shooter and run from them or hide from them (don’t fight them though!).
If you leave the building (which you can if that’s where you feel most safe) please return at 2:30. If this was a real life situation, you would be notified that all was clear through Everbridge, our emergency notification system. Make sure your contact information is up-to-date: check Ultipro, specifically to ensure your cell phone number is current. If your cell phone is also your home phone, include that number twice in Ultipro.
If this drill is too traumatic for you to participate in, please discuss plans with your immediate manager for possible alternatives for being off the NLG floors from 2:00 – 2:30 PM on Tuesday, November 2nd.
What Happens Next
Once the drill is over, the observers will debrief and identify what went well and what we need to improve. Like fire drills, we will have additional active shooter drills in the future so we can be ready if the unthinkable happens.