Published: April 1, 2016, 10 a.m.

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Range Safety:

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Your Actions can help to keep yourself and those around you safe.

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When we practice and train with our defensive firearms we train to live a safer life. \\xa0As a result we don\'t want our practice or training to injure us or any one else.

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This makes range safety a priority.

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When it comes to range safety, we all play a role in making sure that our trip to the range doesn\'t end in tragedy.

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There are some steps that you can take to make sure that range safety is a priority when you go shooting.

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Promote a Culture of Range Safety and Safe Gun Handling

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Range safety is more than just having a set of policies and procedures.\\xa0 Of course that should be a part of the whole picture, however, if that is where it ends you are simply in CYA mode.\\xa0 A better approach is to promote a holistic approach to range safety.

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Gun safety is an all the time proposition. \\xa0Make sure that you are promoting a culture of gun safety.

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Take Actions to Avoid Accidents and Mitigate Consequences on the Range

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The only way to avoid the negative consequences of accidents on the range is to avoid those accidents all together.\\xa0 We can take significant action to avoid accidents, however, we cannot eliminate them completely.\\xa0 There will always be circumstances that are outside of our control. \\xa0 When we cannot prevent an accident from happening we need to have plans in place to mitigate the negative consequences of those situations.\\xa0 Through avoidance of accidents ever taking place and mitigation of consequences when accidents do happen we can reduce the overall impact of accidents on the range.

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Range Safety Policies and Procedures

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Having policies and procedures in place can help to reduce accidents in some situations.\\xa0 However, don\\u2019t think for a moment that a policy alone will keep you or those around you safe.

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Policies need to be practical, they need to make a meaningful difference in safety and they need to be used.\\xa0 Maybe most importantly, safety policies cannot be the end of range safety.\\xa0 There has to be support for the policies that are in place, or they are just a set of rules to cover your tail when something preventable happens.\\xa0 Your range safety culture shouldn\\u2019t be about covering your ass.\\xa0 Instead it should be about avoiding accidents and mitigating the consequences when they cannot be avoided.

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One of the most important policies to have in place is a policy of education.

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Educate People about Range Safety

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It doesn\\u2019t matter the circumstances.\\xa0 Range Safety is an important factor and is a focus of every visit I make to the range.

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Communicate on the Range to Increase Safety

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Sound communication makes everything better and it follows with Range Safety.\\xa0 It is impossible to create and promote a culture of Range Safety if you don\\u2019t communicate about it.\\xa0 If you wait until you NEED to communicate about range safety you are doing it wrong.\\xa0 Remember, range safety is about prevention.\\xa0 Prevention is best achieved with well thought out and deliberate actions not last minute commands followed by a sigh of relief.

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Have an Emergency Action Plan and be ready to use it!

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Fact.\\xa0 You can do everything right and still face a range accident.

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Once people are injured your focus needs to shift to reducing the consequences of whatever it is that happened.\\xa0 This is when you emergency action plan needs to come into play.

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I discussed emergency action plans in a previous Friday 15 and you can find that episode here.

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The key to your emergency action plan is that it needs to be complete, it needs to be reviewed with all people present and it needs to be clearly posted to make sure that it can be referenced in an emergency situation.

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Take a minute to listen to the Medical Skills Matter Friday 15 and subscribe to the Friday 15 email list so that you can download the EAP template.

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What you need to do next:

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Subscribe to the SSA Podcast on iTunes.

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Subscribe to The Friday 15 list and download the free resources from today\\u2019s episode.

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