What is workplace violence?

Workplace violence can be defined two ways:

Workplace aggression

• Any act that creates a hostile work environment and that affects employees’ physical or psychological well-being

Workplace violence

• Any physical attack on an employee.

There are generally four types of workplace violence:

• Acts by those who have no interest in the workplace other than robbery or another crime.
• Acts by customers, clients, patients, inmates, or any other person for whom an organization provides services.
• Acts by a current or former employee against co-workers and supervisors.
• Acts by someone who has a personal relationship with an employee — an abusive spouse or partner, for example.

Key questions for employers:

• Do you have a written violence prevention policy?
• Have you established a plan to control aggressive behavior at your workplace?
• Have your employees been trained to recognize, respond to, and report acts of workplace aggression?

Do you have a violence-prevention checklist?

• Managers are committed to preventing aggression and violence in the workplace.
• Employees feel that managers will respond to their concerns about possible aggressive or violent acts in the workplace.
• Managers and supervisors know best practices for resolving conflict.
• The safety committee — or other volunteers — helps create policy, evaluate risks, and develop procedures for responding to hostile acts.
• There is a written policy that tells employees hostile acts will not be tolerated and will be dealt with appropriately.
• There is a written plan to control aggressive or violent behavior in the workplace.
• The potential for violence and security threats was identified with a written risk assessment.
• There is a written procedure that tells employees how to respond to violent acts and a set of follow-up procedures for evaluating incidents and preventing them from recurring.
• Does the company have a "Zero Tolerance" policy against threats or jokes that contain threatening tones?
• Do the employees feel comfortable providing feedback to management and reporting any threats?
• Call police on ALL cases of threats against employees and co workers and ask for a police presence.
• Keep all access points locked and controlled by security.
• Annually update security systems and procedures.
• Ensure employees have been trained to recognize, respond to, and report potentially violent acts to management.

Special Response Corporation

Special Response Corporation is committed to offering comprehensive and detailed training to identify the warning signs, triggering events and characteristics of workplace violence.  Furthermore, emphasis is placed on developing strategies to prevent incidents from occurring in the workplace as well as how to establish protocol for the safe handling of violent behavior in the workplace. 

Special Response Corporation employs a team of Senior Security Specialists with expertise developing workplace violence training programs to suit the specific needs of our clients in small and/or large organizations. Their vast knowledge of workplace violence and its negative impact on the business community, both psychologically and financially, indicates that companies should be concerned with managing threats of targeted violence from strangers, customers, current employees and previous employees.

Please contact Special Response Corporation today at (410) 785-1212 to schedule your workplace violence training program.  As always, Special Response Corporation is available to meet your security needs also.