In the video, fictional office workers go about their day, making copies and getting coffee, when a man clad in black walks into the lobby and opens fire. Some of the employees run out the back; others lock office doors and turn out lights. When the shooter bursts into the break room, workers attack him with a chair and a fire extinguisher.

The six-minute video — “Run. Hide. Fight.” — aims to instruct people on how to react in the event of a workplace attack and was recently sent to faculty and staff at Boston University by BU police, following shootings at a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Scott Pare, the deputy director of public safety at BU who e-mailed the link to the video, said it has already raised awareness, with some staff members identifying hiding places and potential weapons, such as a stapler, to use to fight a shooter if necessary.