Does your business have a workplace violence policy and train in the event that something should happen? Or better yet, train to prevent it from happening in the first place? That’s right, there are ways you can train to prevent many of these situations from happening in your business or organization!
While there is no regulatory standard that most businesses have to have a workplace violence policy, there are getting to be more lawsuits, and more precedence, that not having a plan and training in place is negligent, and courts are issuing large settlements against organizations that do not have the planning and prevention methods in place.
Some of the steps you can take includes:
- Have a solid employee assistance plan in place. These common benefits that many employers offer have several tools that can help keep employees and their families stable in case of financial, marital, or emotional issues. Just being able to call and make an appointment with a therapist could be the difference between an employee or family member getting help or snapping.
- Recognize when your employees or members of your organization are struggling through traumatic experiences and reach out. Most of us are resilient enough to make it through one traumatic experience at a time, but it’s often when people go through two or more simultaneously that people hit their breaking point. For example, if they are going through a difficult divorce and a parent dies, or they lose custody of a child after filing bankruptcy.
- Don’t rely on a workplace policy. A simple sign and policy that bans guns does nothing to prevent workplace violence.
- Utilize a consultant who specializes in workplace violence to provide an assessment, assist with your policies and procedures, and train your management team.
Don’t wait until you’re in a crisis or had a close call before addressing this issue. Like any other plans related to safety, you probably don’t think you need it until it’s too late.
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