SANTA ANA – Orange County employees will be trained to use routine office items to defend themselves from attacks as part of an action plan that will include assessing the vulnerability of all county buildings, Board of Supervisors Chairman Todd Spitzer announced Tuesday.

“It might be a paper clip holder. But it’s gonna be something,” Spitzer said. “You have to know how to use the tools that are available to you to protect yourself.”

A committee will report to the board in January with recommendations for the training as well as safety upgrades and new protocols.

“Our lives may change a little bit,” Spitzer said. “We have to really think differently today.”

The announcement followed a reading of names and a moment of silence for the 14 people shot to death in San Bernardino last week. Supervisor Andrew Do wept as he remembered victim Tin Nguyen, who worked as a food inspector in San Bernardino County but lived in Santa Ana and was a longtime family friend of Do.

Do described Nguyen as her mother’s best friend, said the two slept in the same bed and that the “last five days have been nothing but hell” for not only her family, but “all of us friends.”

He said Nguyen’s family planned to be at the meeting Tuesday but “the FBI contacted them at the last minute” and requested statements. They also are identifying her body today, Do said.

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens praised Spitzer’s plan and detailed ongoing security measures taken by the Sheriff’s Department, including a two-hour course on understanding mass shootings for all county employees.

“It doesn’t have to be in Los Angeles or New York. It can happen anywhere, particularly given the nature of the attacks that are occurring today: people living here quietly, and then attacking without any warning,” Hutchens said.

Contact the writer: mcuniff@ocregister.com