At Integrated Security, reducing victimization by acts of workplace violence are managed by: recognizing the risk factors, action and awareness through company policy and response and training. Our trained security professionals can help your company with assessing and identifying risk, and offer companies methods for reducing the likelihood of incidents occurring. A well-written and implemented Workplace Violence Prevention Program, combined with sound administrative protocols , and an integrated access control process, will reduce the incidence of workplace violence.
Unfortunately, many more cases go unreported. By way of statistics, the cost of workplace violence has been reported as high as $4.2 billion annually. The Internet and mainstream and social media unfortunately draw our immediate attention to a few horrific incidents compared to the overall majority of occurrences; these events represent only a tiny example of a growing problem.
The truth is, workplace violence can strike anywhere, anytime, and no one is immune. The communities where these acts of violence occur are as diverse as the location and perpetrators who commit them.
The first step for any company is acknowledging the variety of experiences and perspectives, which arise in the workplace from differences in race, culture, religion, mental or physical abilities, heritage, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and other characteristics. While this dynamic gets played out daily and most of the time seamlessly, it’s important to understand how these dimensions affect performance, motivation, stress, and interactions with others. Unfortunately, for many innovative companies and their C-Suite management, institutional paradigms and practices create barriers and/or miss red flags which otherwise would be very transparent.
The dynamic of every company varies in size, location and management style. Often for these reasons and others, it is important that all companies, large and small, carry out regular assessments. A proper risk assessment includes, among other things, making sure that all relevant risks are reviewed (not only the obvious ones), testing the effectiveness of the safety measures adopted, and reporting the outcomes of the assessment to management and employees.
At Integrated we approach your risk assessment in steps:
Violence, threats of violence, harassment, intimidation and other aggressive behavior in the workplace will not be tolerated. The purpose of a Workplace Violence Prevention Program is to raise awareness and empower all employees through a series of strategic steps. In the end there is one common goal; reaffirm the company’s mission statement to its workforce, mitigate injury and loss of life and protect the reputation of the company and it’s stakeholders.
All employees are entitled to a safe work environment, including a workplace free from violence. While there are no guarantees that an employer can stop all acts of violence, you can create a policy and implement it as clearly and consistently as possible to ensure an early alert system is in place for addressing potential threats of violence in the workplace.
The following represent some of the questions that must be answered in an employer’s workplace violence policy:
Workplace violence training is a critical component of every Workplace Violence Prevention Program. Not only is it important to take this trend seriously, but attempting to create an aggressive free work environment requires ongoing awareness and training.
Integrated’s training program is designed to increase your employees’ overall general awareness and provide employees with a tactical plan for an active shooter event. Workplace violence training includes, but is not limited to, recognizing personality characteristics and red flags that coincide with aggressive or violent behavior. Training assists employees with recognizing high-risk behaviors and encourages them to share their observations to protect themselves, their colleagues and the public. Active Shooter training will focus on three key survival modes: effective communication; survival mindset and preparation, and run, cover, barricade and engage tactics.
Utilizing certified trainers, Integrated will design and implement a training program for all your employees. We approach this task by developing training material based around the organizational hierarchy within the company. We begin with the company ownership and executive managers, which includes HR and members of the Emergency Management Response Team (EMRT), followed by all other general support and security staff (if applicable). Training levels and material would vary based on the relevant roles each member plays within their defined group.
Take our FREE Security Risk Assessment to see your workplace risk score in under 10 minutes!