Violence is the second-leading cause of death on the job - killing three employees every day -- and one out of six violent crimes occur in the workplace, costing American industry hundreds of millions of dollars a year in lost productivity, legal fees, and related expenses.
Every business needs a comprehensive risk management program to deal with this threat. Effective record-keeping plays a key role in violence prevention by providing data on incidents of workplace abuse (verbal or physical) whether or not they result in injury, together with records on workers with a history of past violence.
Use this information to:
- Identify potential problems for correction.
- Review the effectiveness of the program and reevaluate policies and procedures on a regular basis.
- Develop and implement on-the-job training methods of reducing violence.
If a violent incident does strike your workplace, make sure that you provide support for the workers involved and those who witnessed the violence. Have trained response teams and provide post-incident response assistance that includes prompt medical treatment and psychological evaluation, trauma-crisis counseling, support groups, stress debriefing, and employee assistance programs.
As always, our agency's risk management specialists stand ready to offer their professional advice.