Lockdown procedures are the steps you take to secure yourself inside a room when there is a dangerous person in or near your building: lock the door, turn off the lights, get out of sight, silence your phone, and do not open the door for anyone until law enforcement physically unlocks it from the outside. Everything else is detail on top of those five actions.
What to Do the Moment a Lockdown Is Called
A phrase used across many emergency training programs captures the whole playbook in five words: “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight.” Work through it in order.
- Lock the door. If the door has a lock, use it. If it doesn’t, barricade with the heaviest furniture in the room. Desks, filing cabinets, and tables shoved against the door create a physical barrier that buys time.
- Turn off the lights. A dark room reads as empty. People forget this step under stress.
- Get out of sight. Move away from windows and doors. Stay below window level. Put something solid between you and the door, like a cabinet or a heavy desk, that could slow a projectile.
- Go silent. Silence your phone completely. Vibrate is not silent in a quiet hallway. Shut off radios, TVs, and computer speakers.
- Do not open the door. Not for a voice that sounds like a classmate, a coworker, or security. Standard lockdown training says the door stays locked until a first responder unlocks it from outside.
If someone knocks and asks to be let in, give no response. Wait for the door to be unlocked from the outside by someone with a key.
If You’re Caught in the Open, or You Can Get Out
A lockdown assumes you can secure your location, but that isn’t always the right assumption. Department of Homeland Security guidance for active shooter situations lays out three possible responses, and the right one depends on where you are when it starts.1Department of Homeland Security. Active Shooter: How to Respond
If you can get out, get out. An accessible escape path is your best option. Have a route in mind, leave your belongings, help others leave if you can, and keep your hands visible so responding officers don’t mistake you for the threat. Don’t try to move injured people. Call 911 once you’re safe.
If you can’t get out, hide. This is the lockdown scenario above. Lock, barricade, silence, conceal.
As a last resort, act. If evacuation and hiding are both off the table and your life is in immediate danger, the guidance is to act aggressively: throw objects, improvise weapons, yell, commit fully to disrupting the threat. Freezing is the most common response under extreme stress, and knowing in advance that this option exists can break the freeze.
If a lockdown is called while you’re in a hallway or open area, your first move is to get into the nearest room that can be secured. If no room is available, you’re making a quick judgment call between moving toward an exit and finding the best concealment within reach.
How You Know the Lockdown Is Actually Over
A lockdown does not end when things get quiet. It ends when law enforcement or authorized personnel personally communicate the all-clear, which is where people most often get hurt by guessing wrong.
In schools using standard response protocols, no one opens the door until a first responder, safety team member, or administrator physically unlocks it and identifies themselves by name and position. A knock and a voice saying “police” are not enough. Anyone can knock and say that. Only someone with master access can unlock the door.
Once the lockdown is lifted, expect a controlled release: rooms cleared one at a time rather than a building-wide announcement that pushes everyone into the hallways at once. Follow the instructions you’re given about where to go. Law enforcement will likely be present and may ask you to keep your hands visible as you leave.
Lockdown Is Not Shelter-in-Place
The two terms get confused constantly, and the actions are almost opposite. A lockdown responds to a human threat such as an armed or dangerous person. You hide, go silent, and avoid detection. A shelter-in-place responds to an environmental threat like a chemical release, hazardous material, or severe weather. You move to an interior room, seal windows and doors, shut off ventilation, and try to avoid exposure.2U.S. Army. Shelter in Place and Lockdown: 2 Very Different Emergency Responses
Sealing a door crack with wet cloth is sensible for a chemical hazard and useless during an active shooter. Listen for which word the announcement uses, because the required actions diverge from the first second.
If Someone in the Room Is Bleeding
If a person in your secured area is injured, you may be the only help available until paramedics can reach them. The “Stop the Bleed” framework, promoted as a national awareness campaign by the Department of Homeland Security, lays out three steps anyone can perform without training.
- Alert. Call 911 or direct someone else to. Even during a lockdown, getting EMS dispatched matters.
- Find the bleeding. Open or remove clothing over the wound so you can see the source. Life-threatening bleeding looks like blood pooling, spurting, or soaking through clothing fast.
- Compress. Press hard and steady with both hands directly on the wound using gauze, clean cloth, or clothing. Don’t let up until medical responders take over. If a commercial tourniquet is available and the wound is on an arm or leg, place it above the wound between the injury and the heart, wrap it tightly, and note the time you applied it.
The window between severe blood loss and death can be measured in minutes. If your building has a bleeding-control kit mounted near the fire extinguisher or AED, learn where it is before you need it.
If Standard Instructions Don’t Fit Your Situation
Standard lockdown instructions assume you can move quickly, hear announcements, and see what’s happening. Not everyone can, and planning has to account for that.
Alerts should combine audible and visual signals. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, that means going beyond sirens and PA announcements to include text messages, auto-dialed TTY messages, and visual strobes. Television and website announcements should include sign language interpreters and open captioning.3ADA.gov. Emergency Planning
For people with mobility limitations, lockdown planning has to address elevators that stop working and secured rooms that may be on different floors. Someone who uses a wheelchair may need physical help relocating. These needs should be identified in advance, not improvised. People who are blind or have low vision may not be able to navigate using the visual cues sighted people rely on, so trained staff or designated helpers become essential. Stress-relief considerations also belong in the plan for people whose disabilities are aggravated by high-stress conditions. Any building that enforces a “no pets” policy must make an exception for service animals during a lockdown, including supplies for the animal.
Preparing Before Anything Happens
A procedure you’ve never practiced is one you’ll fumble under stress. Drills matter because they convert abstract instructions into something your body remembers. Where do you go? Which door locks? What furniture becomes the barricade? What does the notification actually sound like? Answer those questions before adrenaline is in the way.
At least 37 states now require schools to practice lockdown drills annually, and many districts run them several times a year. Workplaces are increasingly expected to include lockdown scenarios in their emergency action plans, particularly in industries where violence is a recognized hazard. OSHA requires employers to review their emergency action plans with employees when plans change and when employees are initially assigned to a job.4Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.38 – Emergency Action Plans
If your workplace or your child’s school doesn’t run lockdown drills, ask why. A written plan in a binder is nearly useless if no one has walked through it. Good drills cover the notification method, the physical actions of securing a room, and what to do if the standard plan falls apart, because in a real emergency it usually does.
If you hear a lockdown announcement and you can’t tell whether it’s a drill, treat it as real. Every time. Overreacting to a drill costs a few minutes. Underreacting to a real threat costs something you can’t take back.