The motto of Healthcare Security and Safety Week 2016 is “Your Security is our Success” and Awareity would like to help you improve Security and Safety all 52 weeks of the year!

There are significant differences between Security and Safety, Safety is focused on Preventing (First Preventers) while Security is focused on Defending and Responding (First Responders). The differences are validated in hundreds of post-event reports that also reveal common gaps, silos and disconnects… as well as reveal something else… most incidents and tragedies were PREVENTABLE.

Focusing on First Preventers

Currently almost everyone relies on Security and Law Enforcement Officers to stop violence, but Security and Law Enforcement personnel are First Responders. Their primary responsibilities are to respond violence and any other threats and incidents to minimize the damages and apprehend those evil individuals that have committed a crime or a violent attack. There is no doubt that Security and Law Enforcement professionals do a fantastic job responding and apprehending, but First Responders are not First Preventers.

What Is the Difference Between “First Responders and First Preventers”?

It is football season let’s use a football team analogy. First Preventers and First Responders are similar to Offensive Coordinators and Defensive Coordinators on football teams.  To be successful, football teams need both Offensive and Defensive Coordinators.  Football teams that invest almost 100% of their budget into a Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Players (First Responders) and their training and tools would clearly not be very successful in winning their games.  Based on evidence from post-event reports and based on the number of daily headlines involving violence, most organizations and communities are not successfully preventing mounting violence and they are constantly in “defense” mode EVEN THOUGH almost all incidents and tragedies were found to be preventable. The bottom line is this, it is nearly impossible for a “team” to win their “war or game” if their primary option depends on Defensive Coordinators and Defensive Players who, like First Responders, are constantly reacting and responding to the “other side”.

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With that in mind what should you really be thinking about and taking action on during Healthcare Security and Safety Week?

  1. Healthcare leaders must immediately realize First Responders are very different from First Preventers.
  2. Healthcare leaders must make (not talk about) immediate changes to establish First Preventers and equip First Preventers to stop and prevent violence BEFORE evil and radicalized individuals escalate and execute their plans of violence.
  3. Healthcare leaders need to realize stopping and preventing violence is not about politics or religion or race… it is about intervening and preventing evil doers from killing and ruining the lives of innocent children and adults.

As I mentioned previously, hundreds of post-event reports have revealed gaps, silos, and disconnects as well as something else… security and conventional controls are just not enough. Want more proof? View our post-event comparison chart from events that took place at Cook County Hospitals, Concentra Health Services, and UCLA Health to learn more.

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I hope you will take advantage of Healthcare Security and Safety Week to focus on both Security AND Safety. Violence of all types (workplace, nurse, patient, community, gang, etc.) is “expensive” costing lives, reputations and bottom lines. Now is the time to make sure your First Responders and First Preventers have the right tools (like your surgeons and nurses) to focus on Preventing AND Responding.

BONUS: During Healthcare Security and Safety Week, Awareity is offering a Prevention Assessment (valued at $595) for FREE! Most healthcare organizations have performed Security Assessments, but very few if any have performed a Prevention Assessment. Contact us today to get yours before it’s too late!