Once again, we have experienced yet another mass shooting, this time by a disgruntled immigrant randomly killing other would-be citizens for reasons that are unknown. Undoubtedly, gun advocates and gun control activists will climb aboard their respective soap-boxes to draw their customary politically motivated conclusions. But this really should have nothing to do with the weapon-of-choice; it could have just as easily been a bomb, environmental contamination or arson.

Looking back at other premeditated mass murders, there are supposed reasons for each and to a great extent the situations are all different; except for one common fact; they are all totally unpredictable and unpreventable.

It's the unpredictability that's of greatest concern. Emotionally disturbed by their very nature, mass murderers rationalize their actions as legitimate behavior, possibly against a government or an organization that they believe is responsible for their status in life.

In an earlier blog, What's the Economic Downturn Really Doing to Crisis Management? , I discussed how the economic downturn has created an unprecedented growing threat to every employer who found it necessary to terminate large numbers of employees. For every termination, the probability increases that one or more of these people will physically attack the organization and/or the people that they hold responsible for their termination.

The fear of losing your ability to survive and care for your family is an extremely powerful and dangerous emotion; an anxiety that can grow by the day as opportunities for employment dwindle as more and more are added to the unemployment lines. This emotional trigger can be set off at any time and can easily translate into yet another mass murder or bombing of a building belonging to the organization they blame for everything that has gone wrong.

Executive Management from both the private and public sectors must stop sticking their proverbial heads in the sand

Recognize that the threat is very real and force their management teams to demonstrate what they've done to prevent or at least mitigate the impact of these events should they occur. It is no longer acceptable to simply assume such an event would never happen in their organization and make an even worse assumption that they are effectively prepared to respond.

There are any number of questions that should be asked, but this time a simple yes or no should not suffice. Executive Management and even Board's of Directors should be engaged and understand what and how the organization is responding to this ever dangerous and growing threat. Your questions should include:

• Do we have an exit interview that in part gages the emotional stability of the person being terminated? Can we at all determine if the person is a threat to the organization? Has Human Resources engaged Corporate Security as part of the process? What do we do with the results?

• What are we doing to support the people being terminated? Are our efforts being received in a positive manner? Are there other steps we can take to mitigate the threat of a disgruntled employee?

• Has our physical security been improved since the terminations began? How? What are we attempting to prevent? How do we measure its effectiveness?

• Have we engaged an organization to provide counselling services to not only those terminated, but to others that believe their jobs are also at risk? Are these counselling services available to the organization if such an event occurs?

• Have all of our emergency response plans, business continuity plans and overall Crisis Management Program been reviewed to ensure their adequacy for these current threats versus the ones on which they were originally based?

• Does our Crisis Management Program address this type of violence? Who is involved? Have our Crisis Management Teams been given the mandate, resources and tools to effectively mitigate and respond to such an event?

According to the ‘experts', hundreds of thousands of additional workers will be terminated before the global economic conditions improve. Many more premeditated attacks on employers will occur. You and your organization need to decide if you prefer to play Russian-roulette with employee safety or if you will have a well thought out crisis management plan in place to address this serious issue.

What are your plans?