The threat of gun violence in corporate offices may not be top-of-mind as companies across America grapple with how to keep employees safe and healthy in the midst of a global pandemic. But for businesses that have a significant number of people still working remotely, it is an opportunity to rethink and overhaul corporate workplace protection with safety-minded solutions, including bulletproofing.
The Evolution of Security Measures in Corporate Offices
There are many opportunities with the corporate office setting to prioritize the security of employees with bulletproofing solutions that turn each otherwise vulnerable window, glass panel, doors, and even desks and tables into a protective barrier from the hazards of gun violence. Overhauling the security practices and protections for a corporate office site is not a small undertaking, but it’s an important one. You’ll want to involve all the right stakeholders to develop an overall solution plan that includes plenty of employee training along the way to a more secure workplace.
Workplace Protection: Components and Methodology
The first item on your agenda should be forming an internal team to coordinate your security and protection planning. This team or committee will function best if stakeholders from across the company are included. You’ll want some who represent upper management and c-suite leaders, but also some rank-and-file employees. Someone from fairly high up in the human resources department might be the most natural choice to lead the team. After all, when it comes to workplace safety and employee protection, most look to human resources for guidance and action. If you have security personnel, you’ll want them to be well-represented on the team as well.
The Site Security Assessment
One of the most important components of the workplace security team’s work is ensuring a high-quality site security assessment. Form a small task force (perhaps three people) to take on the project of finding, hiring, and overseeing the safety assessment. This site evaluation is critical because it will reveal each area vulnerable to the potential threat of gun violence, along with other aspects of physical security systems, practices, protocols, and procedures. Who is qualified to conduct this kind of workplace assessment? Your best bet is to find a company with individuals holding the Physical Security Professional (PSP) certification from the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS). This certification is specifically designed for those whose primary responsibility is conducting threat surveys, designing integrated security systems, and/or installing, operating, and the maintenance of those systems. If protection from gun violence is a priority for your company, a skilled PSP consultant will include recommendations and specifications for various products that serve as effective bulletproof barriers and where those should be placed throughout the site in question.
Workplace Shootings are More Common than You Think
It’s true that any Google search on “corporate security” is going to return results that are all about information and data protection through cybersecurity efforts aimed at thwarting hackers, malware attacks, and so on. But business owners must realize their responsibility for the physical security of each employee is every bit as important. A workplace shooting incident is thirty times more likely to occur than a building fire, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Worker safety and protection from gun violence should still be a critical priority for companies across America. Your team should take the time to conduct a survey among employees to get a feel for how they perceive their security and safety in the workplace. Check this : Security Perception Survey on SecurityInfoWatch.com, which can easily be adapted for use in any kind of business, company, or organization.
Emergency Procedures and Training for Employees on Gun Violence
In addition to the range of physical protective barriers you install in your corporate offices, it is also important to make sure you for another subcommittee to hand the development of emergency active shooter protocols and training of employees on what to do in the event of a gun attack. An excellent starting point for this effort is the Active Shooter: How to Respond document produced by the Department of Homeland Security. A more extensive approach can be found in the Introduction to Physical Security put together by the Center for Development of Security Excellence for students studying physical security. Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has guidance specific to active shooter incidents, it does have a related directive called Enforcement Procedures and Scheduling for Occupational Exposure to Workplace Violence. This directive makes it clear that companies should have plans and training in place for these situations.
Paying Greater Attention to Workplace Shooting Warning Signs
Much more attention has been paid the warning signs of potential gun attackers in the school setting, but the same kinds of signals can also be applied to the workplace setting. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified all kinds of indicators seen in the period before a workplace shooting, and in 70% of all cases, multiple warning signs were present. In other words, giving the tired excuse that the shooter wasn’t on anyone’s radar screen simply doesn’t pass muster anymore. It means people simply weren’t paying attention to what was happening right in front of them. Even the casual remark most would normally dismiss might be a harbinger of things to come. No company can afford to ignore these kinds of warning signs. They must be taken seriously in order to improve workplace safety and security.
Effective Building Security Risk Management and Employee Protection
Creative Industries can make any type of bulletproof barrier recommended by your site security assessment. We can also customize all barriers to fit your unique site requirements and specifications. You can get a feel for the types of products we make by browsing our range of standard products used in businesses and corporate offices:
- Bulletproof Window: Creative industries make 15 different bulletproof window products that provide greater security and protection for employees.
- Deal Trays: We also have 13 different deal tray products that protect workers who interact with customers and need to pass items back and forth to complete transactions.
- Talk Thrus: Our products also include 7 different kinds of talk thrus that can be added to bulletproof barriers to facilitate dialog between employees and the customers they’re serving.
- Drawers: You’ve seen these when you do the drive-up option at banks. The employee extends the drawer for you to put in your deposit or withdrawal request, pulls the drawer in to complete the transaction and extends the drawer again to give the customer their cash or receipt. We make 9 styles of drawer products.
- Pass Thrus: These tend to be larger than drawers to facilitate back-and-forth interactions that include packages. We make 11 different products in this category.
We’ve also developed bulletproof furniture solutions. Originally designed for the school setting, the bulletproofing we’ve done for desks and tables could also easily be applied in the corporate office setting. The same methodologies and components could also be incorporated into doors. To see the bulletproof desks we developed for schools, visit our Bulletproof Furniture for Schools page and know that we can do the same thing for the corporate office environment.
A common question we get is whether or not the aesthetic appearance of our bulletproof products is appropriate for professional offices. We understand this concern and want to assure you that aesthetics needn’t be sacrificed at all in order to achieve protection. Creative Industries will work in collaboration with you to make sure our products meet your safety and security needs while maintaining the kind of aesthetic appearance you desire.
A Note About Employee Communications Concerning Security and Safety
Introducing bulletproofing to corporate offices could cause concern and alarm among employees. It’s important for the human resources department to make sure all communications to employees about these efforts are handled with care and attention. Loop in corporate communications on this, as well as your site assessment consultant to craft language that will ensure your employees understand why these efforts are being undertaken—to ensure their safety and security in the workplace. When positioned as an investment in employee safety, workers will be much more likely to accept and appreciate the work you’ve undertaken.
Ready to discuss your company’s custom solutions for bulletproofing corporate offices? Call Creative Industries toll-free at 800-776-2068. You can also fill out the web form on the contact page of our website and we’ll get in touch with you. We’ve been supplying businesses, corporations, and organizations of all types with bulletproofing solutions for more than 30 years, and we look forward to working with you!