Implementing Active Shooter Training in Your Business

Hospitality welcomes the public by design, making restaurants, hotels, and venues uniquely vulnerable to fast-moving emergencies. In the wake of high-profile incidents in public spaces—from a nightclub in Orlando to a concert on the Las Vegas Strip—leaders have learned that seconds and clarity save lives. A simple, plain-language, well-drilled active shooter plan gives your team a clear roadmap: to alert, evacuate or barricade, account for people (including guests with disabilities), and support first responders. This isn’t about fear—it’s about duty of care, OSHA-aligned preparedness, and giving your staff the confidence to protect themselves and your guests.

Considerations When Writing Your Active Shooter Plan

Alert Staff: Decide on and train staff to use one plain-language in-house alert (e.g., “Lockdown now on the first floor.”) to notify team members of an immediate emergency—without causing unnecessary panic. Best practice is to avoid codes and use plain language so the message is immediately understood. Avoid alarming phrases like “shooter in the building,” which can cause mass panic. 

Barricade: Train staff on how to lock or secure doors, silence phones, darken rooms, stay out of sight, and avoid opening doors until cleared by law enforcement.

Evacuation: Assess available routes to safety. Ideally, each area should have at least two evacuation routes, designated rally points outside the building, and a plan for who retrieves important documents like the employee roster or contractor sign-in sheet.

Create a Safety Team: Form a team from key operational staff (e.g., owner/GM as lead, area/floor lead, back-office lead, and one backup per shift). This team should help write the plan, run drills, maintain rosters and training logs, and lead after-action reviews.

Accounting & Reunification: Establish roll-call procedures at rally points or in safe rooms, designate who reports missing individuals to 911, and determine where staff will reunite once police release the scene.

Accessibility: Plan how you will assist individuals with mobility, vision, hearing, or cognitive disabilities during evacuations or lockdowns.

Continuity & Post-Incident: Define who is responsible for securing cash, AEDs, and medical kits—if it’s safe to do so. Include steps for contacting your insurer and Workers’ Compensation provider, and designate who will handle media inquiries.

Do a Walk-Through Risk Scan

Walk through your space looking for possible hazards and mark observations on a simple floor sketch. Focus on identifying:

• Primary and secondary exits: Confirm they are clearly marked, well-lit, and unlocked per fire code.

• Potential “safe rooms”: Identify spaces staff and guests could use in an emergency. Ideally, these rooms should have solid doors, locks, no interior windows, and the ability to be barricaded.

• Hard-to-hear areas: Note any spaces where audible alerts might not be heard (e.g., kitchens, storage rooms, walk-in coolers) and plan how you’ll reach or alert staff in those areas.

• High-traffic choke points: Identify areas like the host stand, checkout counter, or loading dock that may become congested or dangerous during an evacuation, and consider alternate routes or ways to avoid them.

Pro Tip:

This risk scan is a great topic to cover during your Joint Loss Management Committee (safety committee) meetings, which most employers in New Hampshire are legally required to conduct.

Safety Committee Info

Sample Safety Plan Checklist

• Consider low-cost facility improvements such as numbering doors and rooms (inside and outside) to help 911 direct responders, ensuring good lighting at exits and rally points, and adding interior locks where allowed by code

• Safety Team named; roles assigned per shift

• Floor map posted with with exits, safe rooms, and rally points clearly marked

• Emergency Active Plan (EAP) and Active-Shooter Plan completed and distributed (digital and print)

• Plain-language alert phrase chosen and practiced

• 911 script cards posted (front of house, back of house, and office)

• Training completed for all staff; onboarding step added for new hires

• Bleeding-control kit placed with every AED; at least two staff per shift trained in use

• Contractor sign-in log maintained; daily staff roster procedure in place

• Quarterly drills scheduled and documented

• Recover, reunification, and media plan written; key contacts insurer/HR) listed