What Do You Say When Your CEO Asks You Tough Questions About the Workplace Violence Prevention Program?

Before setting out to write the workplace violence prevention policy, we must understand what constitutes workplace violence and what we are trying to prevent. You should have an understanding about what you think would be necessary to consider in developing a violence prevention policy.

Workplace violence is a global public health problem that has already caused a serious threat to both the physical and mental health of everyone in organizations (Duan et al., 2019). Thus, preventing violence in the workplace is critically important, as suggested by the numerous books, articles, workshops, and seminars that have been available on the subject (Van Fleet & Van Fleet, 2022, 93-95).

However, all that advice has come from psychologists, physicians, and such.  What has been lacking is advice from those who know and understand management and organizations — advice that would not only reduce the threat of workplace violence but advice that, if followed, would also enable organizations to develop potential competitive advantages in terms of their personnel and productivity.  Look within your organization for such expertise, and if it is not available consider the value of retaining such services.

We must also consider the reality that prevention is not 100% preventable.  In a perfect world, organizations would identify individuals who would potentially commit workplace violence during the hiring phase and never hire them. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world and people change overtime anyway. However, organizations can inform and educate everyone, particularly those in management positions, to know when someone may be on the brink of committing a violent act.

In addition, when preparing to write operate under the premise that OHSA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) captures workplace violence under Four Types/Categories (#1 criminal intent; #2 client to worker; #3 worker to worker; and #4 domestic (personal relations) under Four OSHA Categories: General Industry, Construction, Maritime and Agriculture.

A workplace violence prevention policy and accompanying plans with procedures should demonstrate the organization’s commitment toward ensuring the safety of members of the organization as well as customers, clients, and suppliers. Both management commitment and employee involvement are necessary for the development and maintenance of an effective policy/plan. The continued success and appropriateness of intervention strategies outlined in the policy can be monitored and adjusted with data collected at least annually.

Without a demonstrated commitment of management at all levels, others will not follow; and if management does not lead and others do not follow, then company policies will not succeed, no matter how well composed the lines are and how expensive the paper on which they are printed—they will remain “lost in space” when violence comes knocking.

Workplace Violence Prevention should not be an independent initiative but an organizational investment in creating and maintaining safe work environments with senior management leading the initiative through employee engagement.

About the Author:

Felix P. Nater, CSC is a certified security management consultant helping small & mid-size manufacturing, process, production, and utility firms implement and manage workplace security strategy with a focus on workplace violence prevention, and violence response (hostile workplace intruder). Felix is a retired U.S. Postal Inspector who previously worked on a U. S. Postal Inspection Service Workplace Violence Prevention Team and Major Crimes Unit. During his time on the workplace violence prevention team, Felix worked with local postmasters, postal service managers and senior executives to promote a culture of workplace violence prevention delivering training as needed and responding to a variety of incidents rendering risk abatement and risk management recommendations, and testifying at various city, county, state and federal criminal and civil hearings. Over the past 23 years as president and owner of Nater Associates Ltd, Felix has worked with small, medium, and large businesses and government agencies. He applies his Nater Associates Violence Interdiction Methodology as a part of his consulting process LI3CE (Leadership, Integration, Collaborating, Coordinating, Communication and Execution) in maximizing business and organizational independent capability to initiate and manage their programs. Felix is the author of Combating Workplace Violence: Creating and Maintaining Safe Environments with David and Ella Van Fleet, is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant, advisor and coach. He appears on a variety of podcasts as well as local and national news networks. Felix is retired from the U.S. Army Reserves where he previously served as the command sergeant major of a major U. S. Army Reserve Command.