Will Your Workplace Violence Plan Fail When You Need It Most?
Finally, your company's new workplace violence plan is complete. It contains all of the preventative and reporting procedures your research and consultants have told you that you need. You're all prepared, but have you included the one section that's missing from most plans? Have you outlined and detailed the policies and training necessary...
...what about that hole in the middle of it? What hole? The one that answers the question, "what training will you be providing to teach your people what to do if they find themselves actually being confronted by an attacker?"
The problem with the majority of workplace violence plans today is probably invisible to the individuals responsible for writing them. In fact, the missing part is conspicuously missing from most of the training programs and advice offered by even the most expensive consultants. And yet, it's this critical element that, if missed, could leave you and your company with the very same liability issue that you originally implemented your plan to handle in the first place.
As I tell all of my clients, prevention is great and necessary. So, don't get rid of your "zero-tolerance" statements, banned weapons lists, or employee interaction policies. Likewise, you'll want to make sure that all of your hard work that went into developing those reporting procedures doesn't go to waste either. But, let's not forget why we bothered to create a workplace violence prevention policy in the first place. And that reason was...
...liability control, and loss management.
Right?
Unless you're in the habit of making up policies for your company just because you attended a seminar or read an article about it and some so-called expert said you needed it, your workplace violence management policy should be seen for what it is - a critical, potentially life-saving, part of your company's overall liability-management systems.
The term, "life-saving," may seem a bit strong but I mean it literally in the sense of a company's financial life. Because a violent attack happening in your facility can literally destroy your company. But, when I say "life-saving," I'm also talking about the lives of you, your employees, and anyone visiting and who might get caught in the cross-fire. The thing to remember is that, an assailant intent on attacking, regardless of whether he is one of your own or an outsider, doesn't care about your zero-tolerance stance - isn't concerned about whether he's "allowed" to have the weapon he's using, or what you're going to do to him after he's finished.
There is, however, a growing host of lawyers who do care whether or not your plan includes the same elements that I focus on. They are, quite literally, standing by and willing to represent any of your employees injured in a workplace violence incident. Some of these missing elements include:
* Escape and evasion tactics during an attack
* Attack evasion tactics
* Assault prevention training, and of course...
* Physical self-defense skills
These are just some of the important elements that, if missing from your plan, could spell financial disaster for your company and jeopardize its future existence and long-term survival. I'm not exaggerating when I say that, these are the only elements in your policy that are specifically designed to save the lives of...
* your employees and managers - literally
* a company's financial standing, and maybe more importantly...
* your company's ability to successfully defend itself legally, in the aftermath of a violent attack - to defend yourself against once-loyal employees now holding you liable for not providing the training they needed to avoid their injuries.
I'm sure your policy looks great. I'm sure it looks complete. But, the reality is that, most people charged with creating these plans - whether or not it's you, a committee, or a specialist you brought in - lack the necessary experience in crisis management - especially with physical violence - to even begin creating such a policy. You owe it to yourself, your company, and the people who depend on you, to insure that your company's workplace violence plan is more than just a "feel-good" policy that might instill nothing but a false sense of security.
Make sure it won't fail you when the worst happens - when you need it the most!
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Include the absent violence in the workplace training which will make your plan complete. Before you contact another expert, you owe it to yourself and your organization to get the information on workplace violence at wcinternational.com
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by: JeffreyM.Miller
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