Run, Hide, Fight: Why Most Organizations Are Still Getting Active Threat Response Wrong

In too many workplaces, schools, and public buildings, leaders assume that posting a flyer about Run, Hide, Fight means they are ready for an active threat. They are not. As a former public safety commissioner and security advisor, I have investigated incidents where people died in buildings that had policies on paper but no real active threat response capability. The gap between what organizations think they are prepared for and what they can actually execute in ten seconds of chaos is still dangerously wide.

This article explains why the familiar run hide fight framework is so often misunderstood, undertrained, and poorly implemented, and what it takes to fix that. If you are a leader responsible for people and property, you cannot afford to get this wrong.

Run, Hide, Fight Is Simple. Real Life Is Not.

On a slide in a training room, Run, Hide, Fight looks deceptively simple: if there is a workplace active shooter or other violent threat, you run if you can, hide if you must, and fight only as a last resort. The problem is that real incidents do not unfold in bullet points. They unfold in seconds, in confusion, and under stress levels that shut down normal decision-making.

In my book Ten Seconds From Safety, I write about how quickly an ordinary workday turns into a survival problem. People do not rise to the level of the laminated poster on the wall. They fall to the level of their training — or their lack of it. When the only exposure employees have to active threat response is a one-time video or a mandatory e-learning module, you are gambling with their lives.

The framework itself is sound. What fails is the way organizations translate it into practice. Too often, leaders treat Run, Hide, Fight as a legal checkbox, not an operational discipline. They can recite the words, but they have never walked the routes, tested the locks, or rehearsed the decisions that matter under stress.

The Most Common Gaps I See in Active Threat Response

Across government offices, private companies, schools, and healthcare facilities, the same gaps keep showing up. If you recognize these in your own organization, you have work to do.

1. No realistic drills. Many organizations avoid conducting full-scale drills because they worry about disruption, complaints, or bad optics. So they settle for presentations. That is not training. Until people physically move, lock, barricade, communicate, and account for each other in real time, you do not know if your plan works. You only know that your slides look good.

2. No site-specific protocols. Generic guidance is a starting point, not a plan. Your building, your access points, your stairwells, your secure rooms, and your communication tools are unique. Effective emergency preparedness means answering specific questions: Which doors lock from the inside? Which doors fail open? Where can people safely evacuate to, not just out of the building? Where can they barricade if evacuation is impossible?

3. Confusion between lockdown and evacuation. In many workplaces, employees cannot tell you the difference between a lockdown, a shelter-in-place, and an evacuation. They do not know who makes that call, how it is communicated, or what they are expected to do. During a workplace active shooter event, this confusion can be fatal. People may freeze in place when they need to move, or run blindly into the path of the threat.

4. Supervisors and managers are unprepared. If your supervisors cannot calmly lead during a fire drill, they will not suddenly perform under gunfire. Too many organizations assume that leadership skills automatically translate into crisis skills. They do not. Leaders need targeted public safety training on how to make fast decisions with incomplete information, how to direct people under threat, and how to coordinate with first responders.

5. No reinforcement or follow-through. A single annual training is not enough. Turnover, changing floor layouts, new security measures, and evolving threats all require updates. If you have not revisited your active threat response plan in the past 12 months, you are already behind.

Turning Run, Hide, Fight into a Real Plan

If you are serious about protecting your people, you have to move beyond slogans. Here is what practical, no-nonsense emergency preparedness looks like for active threats.

Start with a hard assessment. Walk your site with someone who understands security and public safety operations. Identify your most vulnerable entrances, your chokepoints, your blind spots, and your safest rooms. Do not assume that your lobby camera and access badges solve the problem. Ask the uncomfortable questions: If someone forces their way in, what happens in the first ten seconds? The first minute?

Define clear decision points. Your people should know, in plain language, when to prioritize evacuation and when to prioritize lockdown. That means mapping out likely threat locations and sound paths. In some buildings, the safest choice will be to move out quickly. In others, especially multi-story buildings with limited exits, locking and barricading early may be safer. You cannot leave these decisions to guesswork in the moment.

Train for movement, not memorization. Real public safety training puts people in motion. Run actual evacuation routes. Practice locking and barricading doors. Rehearse how to move patients, students, or customers who cannot move on their own. Practice communicating under stress: short, clear commands that cut through panic. The goal is not to scare people. It is to build enough familiarity that, under stress, they can act.

Integrate law enforcement and first responders. Your local police, fire, and EMS agencies should not be strangers to your building. Invite them to walk the site, review your plans, and participate in drills. In Ten Seconds From Safety, I emphasize that the handoff between civilians and professionals is where many failures occur. When first responders arrive, they need to know your layouts, your staging areas, and your communication channels.

Support your people after incidents and drills. Even a well-run drill can be emotionally intense, especially for people who have experienced violence before. Build in time to debrief, answer questions, and adjust based on what you learned. Real preparedness is a process, not a one-time event.

A Leadership Responsibility, Not a Compliance Exercise

Active threat response is not an HR form or a legal checklist. It is a core leadership responsibility. When you bring people into your building to work, learn, receive care, or do business, you are making them a promise: that you have done everything reasonable to protect them from foreseeable harm. In today’s world, that includes the possibility of a workplace active shooter or other violent attack.

Leaders who treat Run, Hide, Fight as a box to check are sending a clear message, whether they realize it or not: optics matter more than outcomes. The organizations that get this right are the ones that engage honestly with the risk, invest in real training, and are willing to disrupt normal operations occasionally to protect people in a crisis.

If you are not sure whether your organization is truly prepared, assume you are not. Then start fixing it — before a headline forces you to.

In my work with public agencies, schools, and private sector clients, I have seen the difference that serious emergency preparedness and public safety training can make. The goal is not to live in fear. The goal is to respect reality enough to be ready for it.

Next Steps: Get Serious About Active Threat Readiness

If you are responsible for people and facilities, you have a narrow window of time to act before the next crisis, not during it. Review your current policies. Walk your buildings. Ask your employees what they actually understand about lockdown, evacuation, and run hide fight. If their answers are vague, your plan is not good enough.

Real preparedness is possible. It starts with candid conversations, expert guidance, and the discipline to train until the right actions become instinctive. Do not wait for a near-miss or a tragedy to expose the gaps.

To learn more about improving your organization’s active threat response and building a practical, tested plan, explore my security and public safety services.