Communication and Buy-In: Learning from 2014’s Workplace Violence Mitigation Trends

We’ve all heard it said before, “Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst!” It applies more today than ever in terms of designing the appropriate workplace violence prevention response needed to protect employees and stakeholders that it may all be coming together sooner than later. Even despite recent events, some of the trends noted in 2014 gave me a hopeful feeling that enterprise leadership is taking workplace violence prevention to the next level.

As a workplace violence prevention consultant who takes a holistic approach to violence prevention and violence response, I regularly review past incidents with associates, audiences and clients, discussing the need to enhance physical security, review policies to ensure workplaces are nor unintentionally contributing to conflict, devise appropriate management training and better coordination of resources with local first responders. For example, one township in Long Island, New York, decided that their entire workforce including their police force could benefit from a unified training program focusing on their unique workplace security threats. One hospital security director and head nurse developed active shooter training designed to complement their hospital’s alert, notification and communications system and workplace violence prevention efforts.