Training Modules Overview
At Threat Ready, we believe that the best way to handle any security situation is to be prepared.
Our wide range of training programs is designed to equip individuals and teams with the practical skills and knowledge needed to ensure safety in a variety of workplace scenarios.
Communication: NonVerbal “Body Language” Interpretation
This is an introductory module into the theories of nonverbal evaluation. Imagery will be presented, and the class will be asked to interpret the emotion behind the image. Basic physical stress indicators will be presented and discussed. Class members will be better able to discern if a subject is demonstrating a stressful and potentially aggressive body language signal more effectively following this introductory module. Nonverbal evaluation has proven to be extremely popular with participants.
Competency: Employees will have a template to reference when evaluating basic body language.
Method of instruction: Lecture, Imagery, Video Clips
Time: 1.5 hours
Off-Site
Attendance
When staff members attend locations outside of a traditional office setting, certain training must be provided to adequately prepare staff for unforeseen safety issues. Our instruction includes but is not limited to communication options, pre-site review, route selection, fallback sites, recommended supplies, and training for emergencies while attending an off-site location.
Competency: Employees will have a foundation to make safer off-site determinations and enhanced risk management skills.
Method of instruction: actor-based video, imagery review, historical review, and group drill.
Time: 2 hours
Assault Indicators and
De-Escalation Skills
What is an “assault” and how can it be prevented or mitigated is the theme for this module. Members will be instructed on prevention through effective communication, physical distancing, personal positioning, recognizing pre-assault danger signs, practical escape options and utilization of barriers.
Competency: Employees will know what an assault is and how to avoid or limit the risks associated to an aggressive subject.
Method of instruction: video clips, actor based instructional video clips, lecture, and historical incident review.
Time: 1.5 hours
Common
Weaponry
A practical review of weapons most commonly utilized in workplace incidents involving violence will be presented in a safe, and controlled environment. The weapons review is divided into four categories: firearms, edged weaponry, impact weaponry, and physical force. Samples of the weaponry will be presented and viewed. Please note that only imitation firearms will be brought for instructional purposes. Class members will be familiarized with each weapon’s limitations and the potential abilities of each weapon will be discussed in a low-stress, group environment.
Competency: Employees will have the skills to make informed decisions should they be placed in a weapon-related situation.
Method of instruction: lecture, group work, and hands-on review of samples.
Method of instruction: actor-based video, imagery review, historical review, and group drill.
Time: 1 hour
Staff Safety
Training Skills
Staff members will learn basic safety skills to be used for a variety of work-related scenarios.
These areas will include:
• Safer vehicle/subject approach techniques.
• Effective flashlight techniques.
• Two-person approach interviewing.
• Cornering options while on foot (basic tactics).
• Pre-call planning, why this is a “must know” consideration for all interactions.
• Working with the police – what police need when called and how to maximize their attendance upon their arrival.
Method of instruction: in-class and outside, demonstration and class participation
Time: 2 hours – 2.5 hours
Mental Health Awareness and De-Escalation
Members will receive an overview on some of the unique challenge’s persons suffering from mental illness may experience daily. Members will be familiarized with some of the common myths about mental health and its impact on the individual. Members will be familiarized with some effective response options to assist them when dealing with a subject in a volatile or potentially volatile situation.
- Recognizing the signs of a mental health crisis
- Strategies to assist someone who is experiencing psychosis (virtual hallucination exercise and practicing verbal and non-verbal communication skills)
- What to do and what to avoid when interacting with someone experiencing a mental health crisis.
Competency: Managing your own mental health. Members will develop an individualized self-care plan. Participants will learn to identify their own early cognitive, emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual signs of toxic stress. They will learn strategies to reduce the impact of stress, including information about where to get help (i.e. employee assistance providers and community based services).
Method of instruction: lecture, case examples, class engagement. This module will be taught by a mental healthcare expert who has worked with the emergency services, government, and in private practice for over 30 years.
Time: 3 hours
Relevant Criminal and
Provincial Offences
The most common criminal offences as they relate to employees working in a variety of work environments will be reviewed: assault, criminal harassment, uttering threats, cause disturbance, sexual assault, assault with a weapon, and property damage (mischief). The provincial offence of Trespass will be clearly explained. Questions will be addressed as they are posed in relation to arrest authorities and the threshold for excessive use of force will be presented. This component is designed to inform class members on the evidence required to proceed with a general criminal charge or provincial offence process.
Competency: Employees will have a practical understanding of the relevant criminal law they are most likely to be encountering within their work environment.
Method of instruction: lecture, case study, video clips.
Time: 1 hour
Workplace
Reporting
Professional notes are invaluable during a work review, discipline hearing, job dismissal and legal procedures. Members will be taught court appropriate record keeping methods. Examples of daily logs will be presented and reviewed. Minor discipline issues will be presented as it relates to record keeping.
Competency: Employees will have the skills to articulate their observations in a logical, court appropriate system.
Method of instruction: group drill, case examples, and samples for review.
Time: 1.5 hours
Workplace
Attack
A presentation of relevant workplace incidents that have occurred throughout the world is conducted. Timelines, methods of attack, suspect planning techniques and employee emergency response options are all discussed from an informed perspective. Following the historical overview, a discussion on the lesson’s learned from a preventative and incident mitigation perspective will be provided. Response options will be presented for consideration: “Run, Hide and Fight” is upgraded to a more appropriate trained response “Escape, Secure and if necessary, Engage.” Your staff will be taught how to task co-workers and visitors in an attack situation. The new team response philosophy will be discussed and instructed. This is our most requested module by our clients.
Competency: Employees will have the tools to respond to a workplace attack in a variety of environments.
Method of instruction: lecture, incident review, imagery of workplace attacks, and an audio clip from previous attacks.
Time: 2 hours
Critical Incident Response Training
(this is team based/scenario training)
Employees who are site aware are far more likely to respond effectively to a workplace emergency. Case examples will be presented and discussed. A group drill requiring site awareness will be conducted and employees will learn how to become effective participants vs. passive observers in a workplace crisis. The class will be subdivided into teams and each team will have a unique challenge presented to them. The teams will each have to respond to their scenario in a timely fashion and justify their responses to a group of members selected as “judges.”
Competency: Employees will have the skills to respond to a variety of realistic emergency situations.
Method of instruction: dynamic group response to controlled scenarios.
Time: Determined by class size
Counter Surveillance for
High-Risk Employees
Employees will learn the common techniques of motivated individuals who follow people with criminal intent. Ex-employees have followed supervisors, ex-partners have followed staff members and controlling partners have followed clients. Subjects who engage in surveillance can have a devastating toll on the victim and as a result, we provide a practical method of recognition and prevention.
Competency: Employees will have the ability recognize and respond to someone following them.
Method of instruction: case review, imagery, and actual site review with instruction.
Time: 1.5 hours
Interviewing
Skills
This module is an introduction to the process of interviewing. Attendees will learn the concepts of how to effectively prepare and design an interview. Members will learn different methods of questioning and why certain styles are used at different times. Interviewing will pertain to: hiring, discipline, and incident reviews.
Competency: Employees will be able to prepare a basic interview and have the confidence in their ability to engage in this important workplace skill.
Method of instruction: partner drills, group drills, and demonstrations.
Our instructor has extensive knowledge in training interviewing techniques to a variety of work environments throughout Canada. The instructor is a trained polygrapher and has conducted hundreds of tests.
Time: 2 hours
Domestic Violence –
Practical Approach
Your instructor received the prestigious 2016 John Robinson Award for Lifetime Contribution to End Woman Abuse and has spent the last 3 years working with hundreds of victims of domestic violence. Each victim tells a unique and different story; but many of the offender’s behaviors are eerily similar. This module will explain the dynamics of a domestic assault, the potential criminal ramifications, and the tools that will assist the employee and employer better respond to the needs of the victim. Release conditions, related charges, police methodologies and case review will allow the attending member to better understand the phenomena of domestic violence.
Competency: Employees will have a more visceral understanding of the dynamics commonly related to domestic violence.
Method of instruction: case review, lecture, and group work.
Time: 1.5 hours
Employee Safety Planning (designed for Human Resources Personnel or Supervisors)
The class will be taught about the safety requirements and related accommodations staff member(s) may require following a domestic violence incident. A brief overview of the Lori Dupont inquest will be conducted; as well as the related cases that initiated the O.H.S.A. upgrade referred to as “Bill 168” (Ontario legislation but could be considered best practices for non-Ontario entities). Class members will be instructed on practical levels of accommodation, and options that may benefit the subject in his/her work experience. The class will begin with an explanation of the processes involved in designing a comprehensive Employee Safety Plan.
Competency: Employees will have a practical understanding of the obligatory safety planning within a workplace should a co-worker require this service.
Method of instruction: lecture, case review, and group “case preparation”
Time: 1.5 hours
Introduction to Physical
Site Analysis
Staff members will be instructed upon the basic concepts of C.P.T.E.D. as it relates to commercial sites, residential locations, and non-traditional settings. Instruction will include imagery to reinforce the teaching principles. Two separate major crime locations, solved abduction/murder and unsolved attempt murder will be seen through the eyes of the opportunistic criminal. Class members will have an enhanced understanding of site safety through upgrades and safer design. Areas such as closed-circuit television, locks, residential security, fencing and lighting will be included.
Competency: Employees will have the basic understanding of what to look for in a site that could be a risk, or potentially an asset during a critical incident.
Method of instruction: imagery, case review, and group activity
Time: 2 hours
Disaster
Survivability
Why do some people survive and some fail despite having the same obstacles? A group review of unique survival stories will be conducted. Class participants will learn the behaviours of a successful survivor(s) and their respective story. Participants will learn the 10-80-10 rule of surviving disaster and how to increase their chances of survival in a critical incident customized to address workplace scenarios.
Competency: Employees will be attuned to actual survivors and what it takes to survive a critical incident.
Method of instruction: lecture, case study, video review, group work and presentation
Time: 1.5 hours
Homeless/Unhoused population
One of the greatest emerging challenges for security personnel, and workplaces is addressing the Unhoused population. Most often, security personnel are acting as the “first-contact” addressing a trespassing offence on private property. We offer a training module on how to effectively approach, communicate, and problem solve with persons who may be mentally ill, drug dependent, and/or physically ill who are living in an Unhoused situation on private property.
Competency: Staff will have a better understanding of the safety factors when dealing with persons who are marginalized and living “on the streets” in survival mode.
Method of instruction: lecture, video, imagery, and group work
Time: 1.5 hours
Legal Support, Expert Reports on Use of Force
John McDonald and his team will prepare an oral or written report on matters pertaining to use of force usage, abuse, and justification. We have worked for lawyers representing the plaintiff or defendants in civil matters. Our expertise is in relation to police and security use of force. We have also provided legal assistance in criminal matters.
