Mass Shootings And Your Workplace: Know The Signs Of A Looming Threat And Understand Mitigation Techniques

As of this writing in mid-June, the number of mass shootings that the U.S experienced in 2022 sits at 233. That number will surely grow before this piece is edited and published.

Axiom Medical recently hosted a webinar entitled, ‘What’s Driving Irrational Thinking and Mass Casualty Events,’ to discuss what is causing this violent behavior and how to protect ourselves and our workplaces.

‘The standard definition of a mass shooting is an incident in which three or more people are killed by gunfire, including the perpetrator,’ said Dr. Les Kertay, senior vice president, behavior health, Axiom Medical.

‘In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, we saw quite a decrease in the level of violent crime. And in the second year, we saw quite an increase. It’s too early to tell if that’s continuing on. It’s important to note that violent crime in general, even though we’ve had this bump, is at historically low levels.’

That said, mass casualty events are happening everywhere -- from small towns to large cities, from schools to grocery stores, and it is hard to predict when and where an event is going to occur.