Is your workplace prepared for violence?

Workplace safety has been a hot topic for many employers, and OSHA requires companies to provide a workplace free from recognized safety and health hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm — which may include preventing acts of workplace violence. Behavior may include actual acts of violence such as shooting, hitting and other forms of physical abuse, as well as threats of violence, including surveillance and stalking. It includes behavior that takes place on the employer’s premises and also outside the workplace if it affects working conditions. To address the challenge, companies should first conduct a needs-assessment across its organization to ensure that it has the proper policies, practices and procedures in place to increase awareness, recognition and reporting of violence or potential acts of violence as well as the employer’s ability to respond. XPertHR says policies in place should include a visitor policy safely securing the premises; a workplace violence prevention policy; a weapons policy (depending on state law) banning weapons from the workplace and imposing discipline for violations and a domestic violence policy (including a domestic violence leave policy). In addition, new digital tools have become available in recent years, such as AlertMedia, which allows employers to communicate vital information with their workers by sending prepared information through various channels, such as text messages, voice calls, push notifications and emails, to employees before and during a disaster. credit: Source Media