You're in your office when you learn there's someone with a gun wandering outside. You can hear gunshots and screams. What do you do? That's the challenge for users of a new virtual  reality program called SurviVR, designed to train employees how to deal with an active shooter situation in the workplace. The program works with HTC Vive, the virtual reality headset released earlier this year. An active shooter situation is when an armed person or people actively shoot in a small, populated area with the intention to kill. There were 20 such situations in the United States last year and 20 the year before, according to FBI statistics, resulting in a total of 231 deaths. This year saw the deadliest active shooter situation in US history , with 49 people killed in a nightclub in Orlando. In the training situation, users have four choices. They can lock themselves in the office. They can hide, perhaps in the office closet. They can run for an exit. Or they can use something in the office--a computer or a cup a pair of scissors-as a weapon to fight the shooter. This is an improvement on standard active shooter training. Gallo says, which typically teachers people to lock themselves in place and hide. The "lock down" method is often ineffective, he says, and has resulted in many deaths in recent years. In the training's basic level, no one gets killed. But as the trainings become more advanced, players who make a wrong choice be shot. There's no blood; the screen simply turns black slowly. If this sounds terrifying, that's the point, says Gallo. There are plenty of training programs to teach employees how to deal with workplace violence, sometimes involving role play with toy guns. But these trainings are basically games. Gallo says, with employees relaxed and even enjoying themselves. To teach people what they really need to know for an active shooter situation, they need to be scared. "SurviVR will take the fear and turn it into confidence." Gallo says. What would be the best title?
A New Virtual Reality Program on Active Shooter Training What Should You Do When Meeting Gunshots in the Workplace? How to Deal with an Active Shooter Situation? Employees Need to Be Scared of the Workplace Violence.