The Active Shooter Threat – What’s the Right Response? Run Out or Lock Down?

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton

I got to sit in on a security group discussion yesterday. It includes both security directors and local law enforcement and It was interesting to see how both groups approached the active shooter scenario differently. Which way is the best? Is there a best?
For law enforcement officers at both the state, city and county level, they want all doors to be unlocked so that all the occupants of a facility, or a hospital, can get out and run for safety as quickly as possible. They say that means more people will survive, not get shot, and it works with the natural human reaction to run away from danger.

Some of the active shooter experts in the room said that active shooter situations should be treated like fire drills, because people are used to fire drills, and they know what to do, because they practice fire drills more frequently than active shooter drills.

For the Security Directors, especially of hospitals, they wanted to be able to lock down if there was an active shooter call in their facility. They felt that there were problems in evacuating quickly, and some were concerned about leaving bed-ridden patients behind while the clinical staff run out of the building. So they advocated locking down all doors instantly.

While the heated discussion continued for almost three hours – at the end there was no
“BEST” solution. Each Security Director or Manager will have to decide for themselves which approach is right for their organization. The important thing is to think it through in advance, prepare people in advance, and take advantage of the great materials that are available to help organizations prepared.

Get more information including videos, training materials, on line courses and more at
http://www.dhs.gov/active-shooter-preparedness.

Why Gang Leader’s Girlfriends Want to Work in Your Physician Practice

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton

In a very interesting article titled Why Gang Members Want Your Identity Fox Business News reporter Kate Rogers examines a disturbing trend of stealing electronic patient records and using them to commit crimes. They want your social security number and address and then they can use them to submit phony tax returns!

My CPA told me that many of his long-time clients file their carefully prepared returns and IRS writes back to say they were already submitted!

Detective Craig Catlin of North Miami Beach Police called it an ‘epidemic’ among city gangs. He said, “Every gang member is doing this, it’s a business to them – they’re doing burglaries and having other members commit the fraud”.

As a medical professional – why should you care? Because gang leaders are having their girlfriends get jobs at physician offices and hospitals, and they stay for one day or one week, just long enough to steal all the medical records. Then they have a ‘Tax Party’ and file hundreds of false tax returns! They can make $50,000 in one evening. They just need the records.

How to prevent this from happening to you, which, of course, would also result in a HIPAA fine of up to $1,500,000 dollars, is to be very strict with background checks and be very wary of unsolicited job seekers.

Additionally, having active, and online monitoring in effect will send out a warning to new individuals that their every keystroke is tracked and watched. Of course, banning zip drives and using encryption are also strong controls to add.

Walk through your office today – count the tattoos and draw your own conclusions.

Why Everyone Needs Active Shooter Training – after Big Bear!

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton

Active Shooter is not a technical term, it basically means anyone with a gun who is actively) shooting at you!

They can be shooting randomly, getting ready to shoot themselves, shooting from a freeway overpass, or shooting in a populated area – if they havea gun, AND they’re shooting – then they’re an Active Shooter!

The sad story of cop Christopher Dorner and his shooting frenzy affected me personally, because I lived in the high mountains of Forest Falls, one town east of Big Bear, for years, and one of my sons attended tiny Fallsvale elementary school, which was locked down at the height of the craziness.

This shooter targeted his victims in some cases, and others were shot randomly. All the victims had no idea of what was coming at them.

The Department of Homeland Security has really stepped up its program to train people to deal with the Active Shooter scenario, and, after Dorner, and Newtown, and Aurora, and Fort Hood, that maybe everyone should have active shooter training. Just in the last year alone, there have been 15 prominent active shooter incidents.

You can start at DHS and get videos, powerpoints, active shooter reference cards – for carrying in wallets, purses and book bags, as well as posters and training manuals. Here’s the link: http://www.dhs.gov/active-shooter-preparedness.

Why not train our school children, like we used to train for bomb drills, by jumping under the desks and covering our heads? Why not have mandatory training for all teachers? What about mandatory training for all healthcare workers? And all IRS agents? And threater goers?

If you’re reading this – you can get ready yourself, become situationally aware, and pass on the favor!

After The Surgeon Kills Girlfriend at the Hospital – what next?

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Caroline

Time for a Workplace Violence Assessment? You think?

The shooting death of 33-year-old Jacqueline Wisniewski at Erie County Medical Center left the community in shock last week, especially since the shooter was a surgeon!

The surgeon’s body was found Friday, near his home, with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. And this tragedy illustrates why EVERY hospital and medical center should be required to do a Baseline Workplace Violence Assessment.

The warning signs were there, the surgeon had lost weight, had become moody and distant, and also had advanced special forces weapons training in his background.

That’s exactly why he passed a background check, but after that initial check, his blatant symptoms of personal problems were ignored, even by the very people who observed them.

Now the hospital staff is traumatized, a beautiful young nurse is dead, the Eric County Medical Center administrators can look forward to an in-depth OSHA investigation, with possible fines and even more disruption.

Don’t let your hospital be a victim of this kind of incident. A Workplace Violence Assessment can be completed in just 5 days, and will reduce the chance of a potential violent incident by over 75%.

Email me directly to get the new white paper on how to prevent workplace violence incidents at caroline-hamilton@att.net.

Preview of the Webinar on Workplace Violence Prevention

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Caroline

Companies often don’t think about preventing workplace violence until there is an incident that affects them, or a company similar to them, or geographically close. As soon as something happens close to home, they want to get serious and do something about it right away.

Workplace violence prevention is actually a process that, like in quantum physics, when we talked about the observed particle, just putting management’s attention on the potential problem will start the prevention process.

A good place to start is with adjusting and updating your policies. Perhaps your policy is outdated, or hasn’t been publicized in your organization. Time to dust it off and make sure it includes these critical elements:

1. It says: We have a total no-weapons policy in this company.

2. Employees are REQUIRED to report any potential, or even suspected workplace violence situations or incidents.

3. There is an approved company form which every employee has electronically, to use
if necessary.

4. Every employee has to attend a violence prevention training course, or active shooter drill, or both, annually.

The policy is the first step. Next, the policy has to be approved by the management or by the Board, and then sent to every employee, along with an affirmation agreement that they sign saying they read the policy and understand it.

More tomorrow… or attend our special workplace violence webinar. You can sign up at:

http://t.co/rKBuoDgt

Man Wants to Commit Suicide at Hospital to Donate his Organs!

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Caroline

Suicidal Man Triggers an Evacuation in Denton, Texas.

The emergency department at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was evacuated after an armed man threatened to shoot himself in the hospital’s parking lot, as reported in a newspaper article. The man had sent suicidal messages to his ex-wife. She contacted police, who in turn began tracking the man’s cell phone. He was found in his vehicle, which was parked in front of the hospital’s ED. Police cleared the ED while they negotiated with him for about 45 minutes. The man told police he chose the hospital because he wanted to donate his organs after he killed himsel

17-year old imposter does CPR on patient in Kissimee, FL

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Caroline

Security measures in place are being questioned in Kissimmee, Florida at Osceola Regional Medical Center after clerk passes as a physicians assistant!

Hospital security procedures, including staff screening practices at Osceola Regional Medical Center, are getting a second look after a 17-year-old passed himself off as a physician’s assistant and took part in several exams and procedures, including doing CPR on a patient. The Orlando Sentinel reported that hospital management is reviewing its practices to ensure a similar incident doesn’t occur. The youth was able to secure a hospital ID badge from the human resources department by claiming to need a new one because the surgical practice at which he worked had changed names. In fact, the youth was employed part time as a billing clerk at a doctor’s office. When confronted by staff, the youth said he was working undercover for the sheriff’s department, so they would be unable to check his employment records

Man Makes Meth in his Car in Hospital Parking Lot

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Caroline

Hospital security cameras showed that a
33-year-old man was making meth in his car in the facility’s
parking lot before the vehicle became engulfed in flames.
The man was burned over 80 percent of his body and
later died of his injuries. The car, which was in the Horizon
Medical Center lot, was captured on security video that
showed the man mixing ingredients just before there was
fireball inside the car. A sheriff’s office detective working
security at Horizon requested assistance to put out the fire.
In examining the site, he noticed canisters and other possible
drug-related items in the car and called the drug task force,
according to news accounts

Data-Driven Security – Using Metrics to Focus & Target Security Programs

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Caroline

Security programs can be dramatically improved by using a metrics-based assessment to focus them on the areas of greatest threat, and to use metrics as a management tool to keep the security program targeted on the areas that need the most attention.

Using a data-driven approach – that is, using real numbers to measure
and quantify security, always results in tangible improvements.

Management of a security program is no different than management of any other department, whether it’s human resources, cash flow, employee productiveness, profitability, or any other set of metrics that organizations use to measure how well something is being done, and how it could be improved.

Security officers may complain that management is not listening to their complaints, including not making enough money available to implement new technology, or to fix a loophole that has the potential to create havoc in the organization.

Most security conferences feature sessions with titles like “How to Sell Security to Management” and try to address this disconnect between senior management and their security programs. Peter Drucker, the world famous management consultant, said “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

Fortunately, recent improvements in security technology and in development of wider reporting of threats and vulnerabilities, allow management metrics to be applied to the management of the security program to target the program to be maximally effective, to focus the available dollars in the areas which would provide the most protection for the least amount of money, and to prioritize the controls that need to be implemented, based on their return on investment.

Risk assessments are the foundation of a data-driven security program. Through the process of risk assessment, managers can measure the effectiveness of the organization’s total security program, including analyzing the value of the organizational assets, the threat level (based on the mission of the organization), the existing vulnerabilities, and the effectiveness of existing controls.

Basing the risk assessment on the concept of data-driven security means that real numbers are used in the following areas:

1. Determining the value of the assets of the organization, including the facilities, the personnel, the security systems and the current controls.

2. Analyzing the Threat Level, based on either internal incident reports, or industry data, including the Uniform Crime reports.

3. Identifying vulnerabilities in the organization, including surveying individuals at every level of the organization, from the local facility manager to the CEO to find out how they are implementing security in their workplace.

4. Identifying potential categories of loss, which help focus the security program on the problem areas.

5. Analyzing current Controls that are currently in place, or that could be added to protect an organization.

By gathering data in these 5 categories, it becomes possible to run scenarios that pair the threat and vulnerability, match it to organizational assets, analyze the loss potential, and evaluate the cost effectiveness of a variety of different controls and prioritize security controls by “bang for the buck”.

Using data-based security builds a bridge between executive management and the security professionals in the organization who now have an avenue for open communication and consideration of the role of security throughout the organization.

Why Violence in Hospitals is Increasing

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Caroline

Why Violence in Hospitals is Increasing

Violence is not a concept that people usually associate with hospitals. For years, hospitals have been seen as almost a sanctuary of care for the sick and wounded in our society. However, the perception of hospitals has been changing over the last fifteen years due to a variety of factors.

Doctors are no longer thought of as “Gods”. This means they are
are more easily blamed when a patient’s condition deteriorates.
Hospitals are now regarded as businesses. This perception has been
been aggravated by television in shows like a recent “60 Minutes”, as well as
by the effects of the recession on jobs and the loss of health insurance.
Lack of respect and resources (funding) for hospital security departments
      Rather than being seen as a crucial protection for the hospital staff and
      patients, many security departments are chronically underfunded and used
      for a variety of non- security functions, such as making bank deposits for
      the hospital gift shop.
ASIS Security Association issued it’s industry guidelines for Workplace
   Violence Prevention in September 2011, in conjunction with the SHRM – the
    Society for Human Resources Management to address this issue.

The federal government issued a guidance document for dealing with violence issues in healthcare,   OSHA 3148.01R, 2004, Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers.

To Learn more: join my webinar on Thursday, January 12th at 12 noon Eastern time by
Clicking on this link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/835835290.

Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton

Risk and Security Specialist

Category Archives: Hospital Security