Workplace Hostage Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies

This exercise is part of our catalog of tabletop exercises for insurance companies.

Scenario Overview

Participants are the employees of a fictional insurance company when the workplace is thrown into chaos by the sound of gunfire. Employees begin screaming and running in every direction as the shooter takes hostages while others flee the building. In an instant, a normal workday becomes a violent and highly unstable emergency.

As law enforcement negotiates with the shooter, employees are frightened, confused, and looking for direction. At the same time, the organization must deal with the reality that part of the workplace is now closed as a crime scene, normal operations are disrupted, and critical deadlines still exist in the background.

This exercise challenges insurance leaders to evaluate how they would respond to a workplace hostage event involving immediate life-safety concerns, traumatic employee impact, intense public attention, and significant operational disruption.

Why This Scenario Matters for Insurance Companies

Insurance companies are responsible for maintaining safe environments for employees, customers, visitors, and vendors while continuing to meet service expectations and regulatory obligations. A workplace violence incident can create immediate life-safety concerns while also generating severe reputational, legal, emotional, and operational consequences.

This exercise helps leadership teams evaluate how they would respond when a violent hostage incident disrupts the workplace, requires coordination with law enforcement, affects employee wellbeing, and creates pressure to communicate responsibly with internal and external audiences.

Exercise Objectives

• Evaluate leadership decision-making during a workplace hostage incident.
• Discuss emergency response priorities for employee safety, accountability, and coordination with law enforcement.
• Review crisis communications with employees, families, customers, and stakeholders.
• Assess public relations and media response during a high-profile workplace emergency.
• Examine the operational impact of losing access to workspace because of a crime scene investigation.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen workplace violence preparedness, employee support, and recovery planning.

Typical Participants

• Executive leadership
• Operations and claims leadership
• Human resources
• Security or safety personnel
• Communications or public affairs staff
• Facilities leadership
• Business continuity or crisis management team members

Exercise Format

Conduct-It-Yourself Tabletop Exercises are structured, discussion-based simulations designed to help organizations test their response to disruptive events without the time and cost of a fully facilitated exercise. Participants are placed in the middle of a realistic scenario as it unfolds and must work through decisions, priorities, and consequences as a leadership team.

Each downloadable exercise package includes everything needed to conduct the session internally, including facilitator instructions, exercise overview materials, participant forms, a detailed scenario script, and a ready-to-run PowerPoint presentation that guides the scenario and discussion. The materials are designed so organizations can conduct the exercise as delivered or customize the storyline and supporting materials to reflect their own operations, business lines, and testing objectives.

Most exercises are designed to be conducted in approximately 2 to 4 hours. A typical agenda includes an exercise overview and scenario briefing, the facilitated disaster simulation discussion, group review and preparation for debriefing, and a structured post-exercise discussion to capture lessons learned and improvement opportunities.

Exercise Focus

• Emergency Response
• Crisis Communications
• Public Relations

Related Tabletop Exercise Scenarios

Organizations exploring this scenario may also find these exercises useful:

• Cyber Crime Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies
• Pandemic Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies
• Train Wreck Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies
• Gas Main Explosion Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies
• Shelter-in-Place Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies
• Hurricane Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies
• Tornado Tabletop Exercise for Insurance Companies

Purchase & Download

This exercise is delivered as a downloadable package that includes facilitator instructions, scenario materials, and structured discussion prompts to guide the exercise.