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Will you be caught off-guard? It’s a difficult topic to discuss, yet decision makers in all organizations and industries must plan for it. As The United States experiences some of the worst gun-related tragedies in the world, statistics vary between what constitutes an active-shooter event. Some sources define mass shootings as involving at least one shooter and incurring injury or death to at least three, and in some cases four victims.i However, the number of deaths does not make it any less tragic. 

Here are some tips to address active shooter events from a risk management perspective: 

Gather information. Use your available resources to assess the probability and severity of an active shooter event. You can consult local, state, and federal law enforcement resources such as CISA, ASAPP, and Ready.gov, to assess the prevalence of gun-related activity in your area. For example, The Department of Justice released a bulletin advising communities to conduct risk assessment to help prevent or reduce the risk of school shootings.ii Be forewarned that although you may live or work in an area with little to no history of gun-related events, the “it will never happen to me” mentality is poor planning.   

Inform Yourself and Your Team: Whether you are a small operator or managing a team with dozens of colleagues, it is imperative to become vigilant and proactive. Developing a communication system to warn those around you, implementing autolocking doorways, and knowing your ingress/egress points (exit points) could prevent loss of life and/or injury. Downloadable phone applications designed for warning those around you of an active shooter event may be useful. Some organizations use attendance records and checklists to help account for their personnel during evacuation procedures, and to let authorities know who or how many colleagues may still be in harm’s way upon successfully exiting the premises. Determine if it is safe to head to your vehicle, or another’s vehicle, and plan your routes to safety in advance. 

Know what is and is not included in your insurance program. Plan for worst-case scenarios by determining the types and amounts of coverage your organization needs based on the nature of your business activities. Know that insurance policies are not created equally. Standalone active shooter coverage is designed to address active shooter risks whereas someone injured on your premises from negligence is addressed by traditional CGL policies. Each have their intended purposes, definitions, and exclusions.   

Note that business interruption coverage, typical to a package or property policy, necessitates direct physical damage to trigger coverage for the business lost income following an active shooter event.iii  Therefore, without direct physical damage to your business property or contents, a property insurer may deny paying for business interruption claims without its requisite conditions met.  If a civil authority orders your business to close, an argument can be made to cover the proximately related indirect costs, such as the interruption, extra expense and lost income.     

It may be in your interest to secure an active shooter policy and to review the terms, conditions, and exclusions within. The next section will point-out some pros and cons from reviewing several active shooter coverage terms. For instance, active shooter policies can cover medical expenses, disability, death, funeral expenses, lost income, and other expenses. Pay attention to conditions that could include a minimum number of victims for coverage to become available. Other provisions within the policy may include the shooter being physically on, or at, your premises.iv Be on the lookout for the definition of what constitutes an attacker, and the definition of weapon. Active Assailant policies can contain a broader definition of attacker, based on the assailant’s conduct. Active assailant coverage could also broaden the definition of weapon to include vehicles, explosives, or other weapons.  Stay on the lookout for harmful exclusions and endorsements that carve out coverage where you may have thought it was provided.   

Note: As an example, watch out for language in an Active Shooter policy that has a narrow definition of employee. The insurer may require that you, the policyholder, must list your employees for the insurance company to include in the policy – which could shift responsibility to you to provide updated and fully accounted lists of its employees. Do not hesitate to review the insurer’s definition of coverage “territory”. For example, if your workers or colleagues travel for work beyond the US, its territories, Puerto Rico, and Canada, you will want the insurance policy to have a worldwide territory covering the travel abroad. 

Similar to Special Risk, reputable Active Assailant Insurance should include a Crisis-Response or Crisis Preparation team resources within the policy. These resources can be invaluable to the organization needing active assailant coverage. Their expertise can contain a mix of consultants, counselors, and experts with specialties to help your team prepare against active shooter risk and can recommend practices to limit your exposure. They can also recommend steps to take following an active assailant event, including grief counseling. Weighing the pros and cons should be done carefully and with the help of professionals, when necessary.   

When considering active shooter insurance, do not judge that “book by its cover,” because an Active Shooter Policy may be misleading to the extent the coverages within do not live up to the name. Therefore, consider obtaining an independent review of your organizational procedures and corresponding internal policies, such as handbooks, emergency procedures, disaster planning, as well as the coverages in your insurance policies fitted to your organization, and tailored to your needs.  Knowing what to ask, and from whom you can seek unbiased counsel, can prove invaluable when faced with the uncertainty of risk.

Learn more from an independent and objective risk management firm – free from interest conflicts and distinct from insurance sellers – that helps provide knowledge to you, recommend resources to advocate for you, and to protect your interests only. 

If you have any questions or require assistance, we are available to respond to your needs.   

Don’t delay, prepare today.