1. WHAT IS STANDARD OF CARE
Corporate Responsibility
When a corporation falls below a reasonable standard, it is found negligent. It fails to do what is
considered reasonable under the circumstances. There are many interpretations; however, the key
point is that an entity must deliver a reasonable standard (not the reasonable standard).
Furthermore, the Standard of care is what is required of corporations who are under the duty to
protect its employees.
The New York Times reports that on average one active shooter incident takes place every day.
Although most individuals are unaware, the occurrence statistic is daily. In the Insurance industry,
when an incident can be forecasted, there has to be a plan of prevention and mitigation, or it’s
considered tort. As of July 2016, Lloyds of London began selling insurance policies in the US for
active shooter incidents as they frequently take place.
Corporations and their executives are held accountable for implementing policies of Workplace
Violence prevention (OSHA). Corporate Human Resources Departments can no longer separate,
exclude, or differentiate Hostile Intruders incidents from Workplace Violence, doing so amounts to
deliberate indifference. The Supreme Court already ruled inaction by deliberate indifference as a
liability. Best practice of deliberate indifference as tort is from Colorado, where the State Attorney
General made it clear that if an active shooter incident takes place in a school, but the school didn’t
know ahead of time (BUT SHOULD HAVE KNOWN AND OBTAIN THE INFORMATION) the State of
Colorado removes the cap on liability and a suit for any amount can filed.
In order to clarify the Standard of Care if an incident takes place, we went ahead and listed the
services that corporations and first responders need to coordinate and provide, so the needs of
survivors and family members are met. This is not to be taken as law, or the Standard of Care, but as
a Standard of care.
For guidance, we looked at Congress who already passed the Family Assistance Act in 1996, (US
Code 49 subsection 1136(a)(2)) which brought definition and clarity to the duties of primary entities
responsible in the response of similar disasters in other industries. A year later, Congress passed the
law requiring foreign companies doing business in the US to follow like standards for emergency
response teams. (49 US Code subsection 41313(b)), In 2008, Congress passed comparative laws to
other industries (49 US Code subsection 24316).

2. Congress required an emergency response plan to established minimum requirements of what must
be addressed in each plan. A company is not able to control the events but can control its response
to crisis.
To provide context, in the recent Orlando shooting the business did not have an emergency plan or
a team in place. It is estimated that the cost of the incident exceeds 386MM, not including mental
health for survivors.
There were victims from out of state that needed to be flown to their home state, funeral homes
donating their services because victims had to be processed and could not pay. Family members
from out of state that were not united with their loved ones on-site. Medical bills for survivors, some
exceeding 20K that needed to be paid, no help was provided. There were other things, many of
them that are not included in this list. It demonstrates harm from deliberate indifference.
Important take-away: There is established precedent documented in the US on the subject. One can
expect the highest documented standard will be argued in court as the benchmark for the Standard
of Care.
A sampling of ERT duties follows in the next few pages.

3. STANDARD OF CARE
EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM
Organizations that apply a comprehensive emergency planning process are better able to cope
with the impact of violent events. With expectations of the media, family members, and the public,
everyone needs to know what to do and say.
Notification-Planning
• First and foremost, must address how family members will be notified.
• Must be prepared to handle a flood of calls from the public asking if a loved one was
involved.
• These calls should be routed through a dedicated telephone line (Command Center)
• It is important that families be notified before the names are released to the public.
• The message is delivered by a “suitably trained individual” in person.
Family Assistance
• The Company will establish a family assistance center at a hotel for out of state family
members
• Provide transportation to that location
• The ERT team will assist with other transportation; arrange hotel accommodations; provide
phones, food, and emergency clothing; and assist with the return of personal belongings.
The ERT members will also escort family members attending scheduled related events,
including memorial services, flying human remains, funerals, and visits to the company site.
All of these services are organized and paid by the escorts.
Assistance Benchmarks
(1) A plan for publicizing a reliable, toll-free telephone number, and for providing staff, to handle
calls from the families.
(2) A process for notifying the families, before providing any public notice of the names of the
victims, either by utilizing the services of the organization designated for the accident or the
services of other suitably trained individuals.
(3) An assurance that the notice described in paragraph (2) will be provided to the family of a
victim as soon as the company has verified that the individual was on premises (whether or not the
names of all of the victims have been verified) and, to the extent practicable, in person.

4. (4) An assurance that the company will provide to the director of family support services
designated for the accident, and to the organization designated for the accident, immediately
upon request, a list (which is based on the best available information at the time of the request) of
the names of the employees on premises (whether or not such names have been verified), and will
periodically update the list.
(5) An assurance that the family of each employee will be consulted about the disposition of all
remains and personal effects of the victims within the control of the company.
(6) An assurance that if requested by the family of a victim, any possession of the victim within the
control of the company (regardless of its condition) will be returned to the family unless the
possession is needed for the criminal investigation.
(7) An assurance that any unclaimed possession of a victim within the control of the company will
be retained by the company for at least 18 months.
(8) An assurance that the family of each victim will be consulted about construction by the
company of any monument to the victims, including any inscription on the monument.
(9) An assurance that the treatment of domestic partners will be the same as family.
(10) An assurance that the company will work with any organization to ensure that families of
victims receive an appropriate level of services and assistance following each accident.
(11) An assurance that the company will provide reasonable compensation to any organization for
services provided by the organization.
(12) An assurance that the company will assist the family of a victim in traveling to the location of
the accident and provide for the physical care of the family while the family is staying at such
location.
(13) An assurance that the company will commit sufficient resources to carry out the plan.
(14) An assurance that, upon request of the family of a victim, the company will inform the family of
whether the victim’s name appeared on a preliminary employee in attendance roster for the
incident.
(15) An assurance that the company will provide adequate training to the employees to meet the
needs of survivors and family members following an accident.