Strategies for Handling Workplace Violence

It seems as if violence in schools and worksites are so common that they only dominate the headlines for a news cycle or two. But even if the public is becoming desensitized to workplace violence, employers should be aware of the dangers and repercussions of violent incidents

Ten years ago it was terrorism and pandemics. But workplace violence has really emerged as a top threat, and not just in businesses that have a blue-collar workforce. Workplace violence is a growing concern for businesses ranging from IT firms to health care firms to banks to manufacturing companies.

When things that might seem small at first build up and aren’t addressed soon enough by an employer or an employee who might be experiencing them, that’s when things can take a turn for the worse and end up being a real incident that makes the news.

Unfortunately, no guide exists to help employers pinpoint the workers who might turn to violence. No one has ever and will ever come up with a profile of workplace violence that's sufficiently predictive to screen employees. As a result, companies often fail to address the larger issue surrounding workplace violence.

Workplace violence is an issue of increasing concern. In fact, 70 percent of Employees apparently are unhappy in their jobs. Sabotage could be even more deadly and a greater risk to our safety than bringing a gun to work. It could be poisoning products, creating environmental contaminants. These are all the kinds of things that we need to worry about and ensure that we don't have workplaces full of people who are angry, bitter and feel resentful.

The most dangerous person in the workplace is “the grievance collector” – an employee who has outstanding grievances related to the people, policies or processes in the workplace. Many of these frustrated employees first share their grievances before turning to violence. It’s typically signaled in advance. Employers should be aware of workers who may have mental illness, personality disorders, or who may be involved in domestic violence issues.

The programs aimed at addressing workplace violence should include the following elements:

•A crisis plan – don’t make a 200-page binder, just need to have a thoughtful plan that says, ‘If these things happen, what do we do?’” Employers should treat potential acts of workplace violence as threats that are just as serious as natural disasters, cyber-attacks, pandemics and power outages.

•A crisis team –have to have people who are going to take charge on a local level if there’s an act of workplace violence or a threat of workplace violence. If something happens and no one knows who to go to or who’s going to take the lead, things start breaking down

•Training – As is the case with any safety initiative, training is a key element in an employer’s efforts to address workplace violence. Probably the most important thing to prevent workplace violence is to provide some awareness training to help employees know what workplace violence is and how to recognize the signs and symptoms. If employees knowing how to recognize when there could be a potential for workplace violence in any form, and knowing who to go to when they see it.

•Practicing – Periodically, the crisis team should conduct tabletop exercises to simulate incidents of workplace violence

•An emergency messaging system – Good communication is essential in any crisis. But relying on a phone tree isn’t a viable communication strategy. Nor is relying on your building for critical information. Having a Web-based communication system that can send messages to employees via email, text or voice. If there’s a massive incident, a lot of times the cell towers get flooded, and voice messages won’t go through, but text messages will.