Workplace Violence is on the rise and I believe that in the next decade it will explode exponentially unless we are proactive!

The most difficult type of workplace violence to prevent comes from individuals not affiliated with the company who have some grievance or grudge against the company itself or someone working for the organization.  Unless a friend, neighbour or family member notices telltale warning signs and reports them it is almost impossible to prevent random violence of this type.

The easiest types of violent acts to prevent are those from individuals working for the company.  I say easiest only if you raise your awareness level, look for, recognize and report the warning signs that areALWAYSpresent before a violent workplace incident.

This article will focus on preventing violence from individuals working for the company.

At my seminars someone always asks: "What is the single most important thing that one can do to enhance their personal safety?" And the answer is:  Get your head out of the sand!  The reason why a large percentage of violent acts in the workplace come as a surprise is because people just do not want to believe what they are seeing or hearing well before the incident occurs.

If everyone in the workplace felt comfortable confiding in and reporting incidents to their supervisors most incidents could be prevented.  Therein lies one of the keys to the prevention of violence in the workplace.  The companymusthave an open door policy in regards to the reporting of harassing, criminal and potentially violent behaviour.  Staff have to feel that they will be listened to and more importantly that their concerns will be acted on.

The best predictor of future violence is past violence. If you have information that someone you work with, or are thinking of becoming involved with, has a violent past, the best thing that you can do is to avoid them, be aware and alert, and, don't invite or engage in communications which you know you aren't prepared to handle. Most of all, listen to your instincts and be on the lookout for other warning signs

The next layer of protection in your arsenal of violence prevention skills is to be able to recognize the telltale signs of impending trouble. Those signs are called pre-incident indicators or threat cues.

How many times on the 11 o'clock news have we heard people say"He was such a nice guy.  No one saw this coming. He just snapped."I am here to tell you that no one saw it coming because of a combination of two things: lack of awareness and denial that what they were observing was actually happening. Most people who commit violent acts give quite a few warning signs well before acting.

As Gavin Debecker states:"People don't just snap. There is a process as observable, and often as predictable as water coming to a boil." Every type of violence whether it is workplace violence, domestic assault or date stalking follows a predicable pattern."

The nice thing about incidents precipitated by people within the workplace, if there is such a thing as "nice", is that it offers many opportunities for people to pick up on the signals that offenders give us.  Employees in this situation should feel free to approach co-workers and their management with their concerns, and management needs to address those concerns.

I think we can all agree that prevention is important but being PREPARED is the key!

If you should find yourself in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable your goal is to get out of or away from the situation safely. There are a number of things that you can do to help this happen and they are:

Listen to this uncomfortable feeling. Don't ignore it!! It is there for a reason. It is one of your innate survival mechanisms and it is trying to tell you something

Once you have acknowledged these feelings start looking around for escape routes just in case the situation becomes unsafe

If you find yourself in a situation that is uncomfortable but not unsafe and you feel that you can deal with it by yourself then by all means go ahead. It can be very empowering knowing that you can and have dealt with it yourself.

OK, OK, what's the bottom line?  What can you do to make sure that you are safe at work?

Ask for appropriate workplace violence prevention and preparation training!  When I say appropriate I mean training that includesALLthe skills that you need to protect yourself!  Verbal and physical skills.  When I say Preparation Training I mean just that, realistic and relevant training thatPREPARESyou for a workplace violence incident because you cannot prevent all incidents of workplace violence.

I cannot emphasize this enough!  If you can't get this happening at your workplace then take a personal safety course.  Most people agree that they would like to be and feel safer but most people will not take the necessary steps to make this happen.

The best way for you to successfully resolve a potentially violent situation is to prepare yourself by taking appropriate training from an instructor who has been in these situations and knows what works.  Anything less and you are just fooling yourself!

If you are a manager and one of your staff has approached you with a concern, take it seriously, investigate it, document what you have found and deal with it. You are ethically responsible for resolving this. You are also bound by a number of powerful legislations that compel you to take the appropriate action.

If your companies' workplace violence prevention program consists only of policies, reporting procedures, signs in the workplace telling staff that violence is unacceptable and won't be tolerated and a ban on weapons your company is only paying lip service to the prevention of and preparation for workplace violence.

I will leave you with this thought:

In regards to personal safety both in and out of the workplace, there are two kinds of people in the world:

Those who mistakenly believe thatALLconflicts, confrontations and attacks can be defused by the use of properly applied communication skills and verbal de-escalation tactics.

AND

Those that know better!

Be prepared!  Provide your staff with all the skills they need to protect themselves.