4 Essential Components of Workplace Violence Programs

In yesterday’s Advisor, consultant Dick Sem, CPP CSC, covered warning signs of impending violence; today, the essential components of a workplace violence (WPV) program plus an introduction to the all-things-HR-in-one-place website, HR.BLR.com®.

The Four Essential Components of a WPV Program

#1. Prevention—the most effective and powerful way to avoid violence

• Put policies, plans, and procedures in place that are comprehensive and specific to your culture and environment.
• Conduct employee and supervisor training:
• Special training for front-line staff who deal with the public—hotel, retail, healthcare—and for those handling cash or pharmaceuticals.
• Emphasize the importance of staff awareness.
• Clarify the duty of employees to report.
• Clarify duty of management to respond, not rationalize, minimize, or excuse. (“That’s just Joe,” “Terry’s having a bad day, a little stress, she’ll get over it.”)
• Cover how to recognize, de-escalate, and safely manage aggressive, confrontational, and threatening behavior.

#2. Mitigation and De-escalation

When a threat occurs, conduct detailed interviews with the victim(s) and other knowledgeable persons concerning:

• History of relationship with aggressor.
• Intimidating, threatening, or violent behavior of aggressor.
• Aggressor’s training, use, and/or access to weapons.
• Historical and current use or abuse of alcohol and drugs by aggressor and victim.
• Mental and emotional history of aggressor and victim as known.
• Current employment status of aggressor and victim, plus location and stability.
• Current family relationships of aggressor and victim—proximity, intensity, dynamics, support (sometimes, the family will get a person committed, which the company can’t do)
• Other current or imminent issues that could be disruptive or stressful.
• Identification of other sources of independent, credible verification/perspective for both parties.

Other steps may include:

• Conduct a detailed check of public records, including law enforcement records.
• Conduct a very detailed interview with the aggressor.

Assessing the risk, consider:

• Exactly what has happened, or is alleged to have happened?
• Who reported the incident/situation? Is that person credible?
• Who are possible witnesses and others who may be able to provide useful input?
• What are the possible motivations for the incident/situation?
• How imminent is the possibility for further negative or harmful action?
• Are persons who are involved and/or in the vicinity reasonably safe at this time?
• What about the setting or situation may permit or facilitate, rather than prevent or impede, violence?
• How vulnerable or at risk is the potential target(s)?
• Who or what other functions (e.g., public relations, outside counselors, outside law enforcement or security experts) should be brought in?
• Is there any imminent potential impact on the employer, its reputation, and its ability to function?
• Will there likely be media attention concerning this situation/incident?

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Possible mitigation strategies include:

• Do nothing, continue to monitor situation.
• Defuse stress of person(s) involved.
• Separate persons involved.
• Commission a psychological Risk Assessment.
• Assign ongoing remediation plan or “Last Chance Agreement.”
• Discipline up to termination for cause.
• Obtain clinical intervention/treatment.
• Obtain Restraining Orders/Orders of Protection—but remember that they can be inflammatory.
• Involve law enforcement—can be very supportive and useful; however, this can be inflammatory as well. An undercover person nearby may be a good approach.
• Establish ongoing contact—you never know what people are thinking; may have someone who got on well check in.
• Implement additional security measures.

#3. Response to Incidents

In 95% of situations, says Sem, your own staff is sufficient to address the situation, but be sure not to send your responders into something they are not trained for, such as an active shooter situation, says Sem.

Be especially careful with panic buttons—responders tend to rush into the unknown.

#4. Recovery

After the incident, here are the questions to ask yourself, says Sem:

• Is the event truly over?
• What are the chances of recurrence?
• What can we do for those involved and affected? (A shooting affects everyone. Companies that recover the best are the ones willing to spend on counseling, Sem says.)
• What are lessons learned?
• How and what should we communicate with affected/Interested internal and external audiences? (A shooting will attract national and international press.)

Violence prevention—one of what, a dozen challenges on your desk? In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Like FMLA intermittent leave, overtime hassles, ADA accommodation, and then on top of that, whatever the agencies and courts throw in your way.
You need a go-to resource, and our editors recommend the “everything-HR-in-one website,” HR.BLR.com. As an example of what you will find, here are some policy recommendations concerning e-mail, excerpted from a sample policy on the website:

Privacy. The director of information services can override any individual password and thus has access to all e-mail messages in order to ensure compliance with company policy. This means that employees do not have an expectation of privacy in their company e-mail or any other information stored or accessed on company computers.

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E-mail review. All e-mail is subject to review by management. Your use of the e-mail system grants consent to the review of any of the messages to or from you in the system in printed form or in any other medium.

Solicitation. In line with our general policy, e-mail must not be used to solicit for outside business ventures, personal parties, social meetings, charities, membership in any organization, political causes, religious causes, or other matters not connected to the company’s business.

We should point out that this is just one of hundreds of sample policies on the site. (You’ll also find analyses of laws and issues, job descriptions, and complete training materials for hundreds of HR topics.)

You can examine the entire HR.BLR.com program free of any cost or commitment. It’s quite remarkable—30 years of accumulated HR knowledge, tools, and skills gathered in one place and accessible at the click of a mouse.

What’s more, we’ll supply a free downloadable copy of our special report, Critical HR Recordkeeping—From Hiring to Termination, just for looking at HR.BLR.com. If you’d like to try it at absolutely no cost or obligation to continue (and get the special report, no matter what you decide), go here.