Program Development Elements For The Prevention Of Workplace Violence

The principles for establishing and maintaining a successful program to prevent organizational targeted and “grudge” violence are straightforward but require effort on the part of the program’s stakeholders.  Best practices include the following ingredients:

• Policy that workplace or campus threats are taken seriously and that employees, managers, students, and other members of the community are expected to report incidents or concerns promptly
• Training and continuing education of:
  • The Team  – on roles, case assessment and management options
  • Supervisors    – on risk contexts, warning signs, and protocols
  • Employees – on policy, protocol, and expectations
• Early screening of cases by the threat management team representatives and assessment professionals as necessary
• Top management support for the program, explicitly communicated
• Multi-disciplinary threat management team or resources is established for a comprehensive response to threat of violence incidents (e.g., human resources, security, legal, risk assessment and other specialists)
• Notification procedures delineated and well known by members of the organization for the prompt reporting of threat incidents to a management team or designated representative
• Commitment and practice by team members and specialists to recognize the contributions of each discipline or department and to work collaboratively toward resolving cases
• Perception of competence by members of the organization, that the internal and external resources for responding to threat scenarios are capable of managing diverse situations effectively