How awareness and environment design turn seconds into a survival advantage
Contributed by Jim Brigham, LCG VP of Risk Management, Former Operations Chief, State of Vermont, Office of Safety & Security
Series context. This second installment in The Mindset Shift series builds on Part 1 – Participate in Your Own Rescue, shifting from mindset to mechanics: how ordinary people can control the only two constants in any crisis, time and distance.
Seconds That Decide Outcomes
When danger strikes, luck is rarely the deciding factor; time and distance are. In every active-threat or fast-moving emergency, the space you can create and the seconds you can buy often determine who survives. Federal guidance from FEMA and the U.S. Fire Administration shows that most active-threat events “end within about fifteen minutes,” and many conclude in under five.
That reality makes awareness your most valuable skill. The earlier you recognize danger, the more options you have to move, protect, and respond. Awareness buys time; environmental design creates distance. Together, they turn preparation into protection.
LCG perspective. In threat response, time and distance are currency. You can’t buy more after the crisis starts; you earn them beforehand through awareness and planning.
How Awareness Buys Time
Time begins the moment you sense that something is off, a sound, a look, a feeling. The Department of Homeland Security’s Active Shooter Guidance stresses that “preparedness maximizes options and mitigates harm,” urging civilians to respond immediately rather than wait for instructions.
Recognizing anomalies early, like a door propped open, a person pacing near an entrance, or sudden silence in a usually busy area, gives you seconds that others lose. Those seconds enable decisive action: to run, hide, or alert others before confusion spreads.
Situational awareness training teaches your brain to process those cues faster. Practice scanning exits when you enter a room; note who’s in the space and what normal looks like. When the pattern breaks, you’ll recognize it instinctively.
How Design Creates Distance
Distance multiplies survival. Every foot you put between yourself and danger reduces exposure. The DHS Run–Hide–Fight model isn’t linear; it’s layered. Each option seeks to expand distance by movement, barriers, or concealment.
- Run if you can. Know multiple exit routes. Elevators and narrow hallways trap; stairwells and open-air exits free you.
- Hide if you must. Identify cover (objects that stop bullets) and concealment (objects that obscure the view). Thick furniture, concrete pillars, or file cabinets can all serve as barriers.
- Fight only as a last resort. If contact is unavoidable, act decisively to disrupt and disengage, then move away.
Physical space planning amplifies these choices. Threat-assessment specialists use Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, clear sightlines, accessible exits, and secure doors to ensure that employees have realistic time-and-distance options.
LCG perspective. Every workplace has choke points, lobbies, corridors, and badge-locked doors. A professional site assessment can turn those vulnerabilities into planned routes of escape or refuge.
Everyday Tools for Buying Seconds
You don’t need specialized gear to create space. Small environmental actions can delay a threat long enough to escape or help others:
- Use furniture for delay, not defense. A desk or rolling cabinet can block a doorway momentarily.
- Improvise wedges. A bag, belt, or shoe jammed under a door buys precious seconds.
- Control visibility and sound. Close the blinds, silence your phone, and stay quiet to avoid detection.
- Know your exits. During calm times, test how doors open: push bar, latch, or key. Seconds lost to confusion are seconds surrendered.
FEMA’s Active Shooter Coordination guidance endorses this principle: familiarity with the layout and exits dramatically increases the probability of survival.
Training Converts Knowledge into Reflex
Awareness and design only matter if practiced. As with CPR or fire drills, repetition makes response automatic. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) urges employers to integrate active-threat drills into routine safety culture so that motion replaces hesitation.
Effective drills combine three layers:
- Classroom awareness – learning visual and auditory cues.
- Tabletop exercises – scenario discussions, mapping decision points.
- Physical walkthroughs – testing routes and communication systems under time pressure.
Training transforms awareness into instinct because, under stress, the brain reverts to its last successful habit.
LCG perspective. Preparedness is perishable. If you haven’t practiced in six months, you’ve forgotten how fast five seconds feel.
From Assessment to Action
LCG Discovery conducts site-specific Threat and Vulnerability Assessments to evaluate how your buildings, procedures, and people interact during emergencies. Our assessments map the actual time-and-distance envelope available to staff, identifying where poor signage, locked doors, or communication failures could trap occupants.
We then design practical improvements, clearer evacuation routes, better door hardware, reinforced shelter areas, and train personnel to use them confidently. The result: employees who know how to think and act under stress, not just read policies.
Quick Checklist
- Identify three exits in every space you occupy.
- Practice one route for each quarter.
- Conduct short “awareness audits” during everyday routines, notice sounds, doors, and crowd flow.
Final Thought
In every emergency, you will control only two variables: time and distance. Everything else, response teams, alarms, and outcomes, is outside your reach. By investing in awareness and design today, you convert chaos into opportunity tomorrow.
Preparation isn’t paranoia, it’s responsibility. Because when seconds matter, you are the help until help arrives.
References (Endnotes)
[1] Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Active Shooter Coordination, U.S. Fire Administration, 2020. https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/pdf/efop/efo48002.pdf
[2] U.S. Fire Administration / FEMA, Fire/EMS Department Operational Considerations and Guide for Active Shooter and Mass Casualty Incidents, 2013. https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/active_shooter_guide.pdf
[3] Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Active Shooter: How to Respond, 2008. https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_booklet.pdf
[4] Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Active Shooter Preparedness Action Guide, 2025. https://www.cisa.gov/active-shooter-preparedness-action-guide
[5] Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013, 2014. https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/active-shooter-study-2000-2013.pdf
[6] CISA, Security Awareness for Soft Targets and Crowded Places, 2023. https://www.cisa.gov/publication/security-awareness-for-soft-targets-and-crowded-places
[7] U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Foundations of Targeted Violence Prevention, 2023. https://www.dhs.gov/foundations-targeted-violence-prevention
This article is for general information and does not constitute legal or safety advice.
