All organizations have exposure to all four types of violence, although to varying degrees. For example, if you are a retail business that handles lots of cash, the nature of the threat posed and type of potential violence you face will differ from the threat that hangs over a manufacturing plant. Likewise the threat posed to a warehouse located in a high crime area will be different from that posed to an office building in a busy downtown area. Each type of workplace violence requires a different type of assessment.
Numerous variables will impact these assessments, including the type of business, the type of facilities you operate, the level and nature of security at those facilities, hours of operation, level of staffing, presence of valuables or cash, and location.
In addition, the type of workplace violence incident has to be considered when attempting to identify the appropriate vulnerability rating. For example, a workplace robbery is driven by the “attractiveness” of acquiring cash or other valuables (like jewelry, precious metals, etc.) whereas a terminated employee, intimate partner or disgruntled client is driven by the desire to get to the “target” of their rage, sense of injustice or other psychological factors. For the robber the higher the level of deterrence (or security and mitigation factors) in place the more the attractiveness of the facility diminishes because their goal is to escape with the valuables.