Office Violence: You Won’t Respond How You Think.

Imagine sitting at your desk when suddenly—gunshots ring out, and screams fill the air. Chaos erupts in your once-calm office. Would you freeze, run, or instinctively know what to do? I can tell you—most people react in ways they never would have imagined.

I know this because I’ve lived through it. My husband and I were working together in Libya when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The shock paralysed me; I never thought I’d freeze and do nothing.

But it doesn’t even have to be as extreme as a war zone or a shooting. Every year more than 2 million Americans are affected by workplace violence, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

California has taken a significant step to tackle this issue with its new Workplace Violence Prevention law, which went into effect on July 1, 2024. And it’s no wonder. The state experienced a staggering 141% increase in mass shootings since 2014, with more than 650 incidents reported in 2023 alone.

Practical worker training is a necessity under new Workplace Violence Prevention Plans (WVPP) but it’s a huge challenge for employers to adequately prepare staff both physically and emotionally. At best, most training raises awareness of important protocols and ticks a compliance box.

Over the past 5 years, I’ve put hundreds of people through our immersive simulations, which are designed to safely and supportively activate “fight-flight” or limbic responses in the brain. Most people are surprised what they learn about themselves.

That’s because in acute stress moments, it’s very difficult to think at all. Our bodies’ survival instincts are hard wired to take over, even if that’s absurd behaviour like running towards a bigger threat, or standing frozen on the spot. But guess what? You will unfreeze at some point. And that’s when it’s really valuable to understand how to reboot your brain and body into making better decisions.

The simulations we develop are crafted with input from psychologists, trauma specialists, and industry experts to ensure they balance people’s psychological comfort levels and allow learners to engage at their own pace.

In the case of active shooter training, we heard from both trainers and learners that the most effective and memorable training happens in deeply familiar contexts. In other words, it’s no good to practice running for the exits in someone else’s building.

That’s why we started using Mixed Reality (MR) technology to develop a flexible tool that enables trainers to bring an emotionally authentic simulation to any client, anywhere, in the exact context that they need to practice in - their own workplace.

So what exactly is this technology? Mixed Reality blends the physical world with digital elements, making virtual events feel like they’re happening right in your space. With the headset on, you see your real surroundings and colleagues, but the environment shifts with added lights, sounds, and virtual objects that react to your movements—creating a fully immersive experience. Think of it as your actual office, transformed into a training ground.

This is not a completely new concept. MR has been in the headlines recently because of the release of new hardware like the Apple Vision Pro. But the reality is, you don’t need to invest in expensive, personalised hardware to experience MR right now. We’ve already been testing it to help people prepare for natural disasters, urban conflicts, kidnappings, vehicle ambushes, and traffic accidents all over the world.

Unfortunately, some industries are more vulnerable to workplace violence, such as retail, manufacturing and construction. New technologies and training methods that enable authentic practice and preparation are quickly needed.

Survivors of active shooter incidents will be the first to tell you that they wish they’d had a chance to practice their responses, because its too late to do this afterwards.

Through this technology, their experiences can be felt and truly understood by a much wider group of people. A workforce of hundreds or thousands of staff can now be right there, in the room where it’s happening and learn from each other’s mistakes.

When this is done thoughtfully, in a way that empowers people to develop the right mindset, bringing virtual gunfire into the office can really save lives.

Are you interested in being one of the first to test our in-office active shooter mixed reality experience while it's being developed?