How to respond & act – advice & training

In case of immediate threats

How to proceed if an armed intruder is in the building or shots from firearms can be heard?

  • Lock the room that you are in.
  • Stay away from windows and doors.
  • Do not draw the attention of the armed intruder to you.
  • Turn down your mobile phone (reduce sound volume).
  • Or, if possible, leave the building immediately as quickly as possible. Watch out: only flee from the building if it is relatively clear that you will not encounter the armed intruder. Be careful: because of the reverberation (echo) of sound, sound sometimes appears to come from a different direction than it actually does. Make sure that you do not run towards the source of danger.
  • Once you have reached safety, immediately call the police (110).
  • If possible without putting yourself at risk, warn everybody in the respective buildings to lock themselves in and to wait until the all-clear signal is given.
  • Immediately call the TU emergency number (16–44 44 4).

Guidelines for senior managers

Whenever employees and staff get into threatening situations, senior managers must intervene and clarify the situation.

What kind of threat is it?

  • Stalking
  • Sexual assaults and harassment
  • Any threat of violence, be it in writing, orally, by phone or electronically
  • Any form of physical violence
  • Extreme expressions of violent fantasies

What can senior managers do?

  • Stay calm and cautious.
  • Get in touch with the Threat Management Team immediately. Avoid any escalation.
  • Do not risk your own safety. Do not try to resolve the situation without having contacted the Threat Management Team.
  • Inform employees, staff and students only after clarifying the situation with the Threat Management Team in a concerted effort.
  • Always forward inquiries of the press to the press office (SCC) of TU Darmstadt (16-20017).

In case of immediate danger, call the police (110) and the University emergency number (44 44 4)

immediately.

Training

Training on how to deal with threatening and outraged persons is offered regularly.

For more information, please refer to the Programm der innerbetrieblichen Weiterbildung (programme for in-house training) in the field of communication and self-organisation.