Violent behavior can erupt anywhere. Consider these statistics:
- Homicide is the third-leading cause of work-related deaths.
- According to studies, as many as 1 million Americans each year are the victims of nonfatal work-related assaults.
- While the highest percentage of workplace assaults are in the service, healthcare, and retail industries, incidents of violence occur in all industries regardless of race, age, or gender.
Violence in the workplace is a serious problem, and it covers a broad range of situations, including:
- Robberies of service employees such as sales clerks and taxi drivers
- Assaults on police officers, prison guards, and other public safety personnel
- Attacks on healthcare workers by patients
- Fights between coworkers or “revenge attacks” by former or current employees
- Assaults by strangers that are not related to any particular type of work
As a trainer, your job is to tailor your safety tips to the types of violence your employees might actually face. Workers in an office or manufacturing plant need much different information about protecting themselves than do healthcare workers or sales clerks.
Concerned about the potential for an active shooter in the workplace? Find out what to do in our upcoming September 11 webinar, “Active Shooter in the Workplace.” Learn more.
Keep your advice practical. Emphasize the need to use common sense:
- Don’t leave handbags or other valuables open or unguarded.
- Don’t go into dark or isolated areas alone.
- Be alert for unfamiliar persons in areas where they don’t belong.
Employees should know what resources are available to protect against crime and how to use them. For example, if security personnel are available to accompany or monitor employees in a potentially unsafe situation, make sure that information is well posted. Above all, make sure employees know how to summon help in an emergency.
Take suspicious or threatening behavior seriously. Train employees to be alert to such warning signs as significant changes in mood or demeanor, extremely angry reactions to minor problems, and verbal abuse or threats. This can be a tricky area: While you don’t want to encourage involvement in others’ personal problems, you do want to make sure that signs of potential violence are not ignored until it’s too late. Urge employees with serious, well-founded concerns about the behavior of a coworker to have a confidential discussion with a supervisor.
Learn what to do if the unthinkable happens and an active shooter enters your workplace. Attend our upcoming September 11 webinar, “Active Shooter in the Workplace.” Register here.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll look at the types of violence that can occur in the workplace, plus we’ll describe an upcoming webinar that will give you professional and practical recommendations for dealing with an active shooter in the workplace.