Osha Cites Security Company for Active Shooter Incident: What Should Employers Do Now?

• Publication year: 2023

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Chantell C. Foley and Todd B. Logsdon ^*

In this article, the authors discuss the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's citation of a security company for a fatal shooting at a shopping mall and explain what employers can learn from this response and the steps they can take to create a more secure workplace.

The unfortunate uptick in active shooter events has led federal workplace safety officials to focus their sights on employers and whether they should be held responsible for the results of tragic events on their premises. Most recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) used the General Duty Clause to cite a security company for a fatal shooting at a shopping mall, saying the legal obligation requiring employers to maintain a workplace free of certain recognized hazards could include active shooter events. What can you learn from OSHA's response to this tragic event, and what steps can you take to create a more secure workplace?

Mall Confrontation Turns Deadly and Leads to Violation

In October 2021, a patron at the Boise Towne Square Mall in Idaho fatally shot a security officer. The officer was employed by Professional Security Consultants Inc., a security company providing officers for locations throughout the United States. On the day of the shooting, the employee confronted a patron in the mall openly carrying a firearm. The patron initially turned and started to walk away, then turned back around and started firing his weapon. The security officer was struck three times and ultimately died

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from his wounds. Notably, the shooter was known to the security officers as a regular offender of the mall's prohibition on firearms.

Following the shootings, OSHA cited Professional Security Consultants for a "serious" violation of the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). According to OSHA, the company violated the clause because it "repeatedly exposed its employees at the Boise Towne Square Mall to workplace violence hazards and failed to follow its own procedures for interacting with armed individuals to enforce the mall's code of conduct." The security company is currently contesting the agency's citation.

Active shooting incidents in workplaces such as malls, bars, schools, and retail stores are making the headlines, so now seems like a good time for employers to delve into what the General Duty Clause means, what OSHA's use of it might mean for future workplace...