The University of Alaska Fairbanks is training employees how to respond to a workplace violence.
UA spokeswoman Kate Wattum says sessions happening this week at the Butrovich administrative center are aimed at teaching building staff about their options in the event of a shooting incident.
“About running, hiding and fighting and the decision processes that people need to make when confronted with different aspects of a dynamic situation. And also, the UAF police officer who’s going to be doing the training is going to be shooting a weapon in the building in an isolated area so people can hear what it sounds like within the building.”
The training is in preparation for an active shooter exercise scheduled for Dec. 8. Wattum says the exercise will involve an actor walking through the building. She says there will no aggressive action toward employees, but it will give them experience responding quickly.
“I know I’m supposed to run. I know I’m supposed to hide or fight. But you have to have a little bit of pressure to be able to put people in situations where they have to make that critical decision.”
Wattum says the first ever exercise, will include feedback from trainers.
“We will have people on site monitoring and assessing how everybody behaves and responds. And there will be situations where everyone finds out, very clearly — immediately — that these aren’t good places to be, or this isn’t a good hiding spot.”
She says a similar exercise will be held at a University of Alaska Anchorage building, with the goal of developing employee shooter response training program for at UA campuses statewide.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
