Workplace violence is an inevitable security risk which your organization should get ready to deal with. Having emergency preparedness plan in place will provide formidable leverage for your business risk and resilience team. Workplace violence is any act of verbal, physical or emotional assault and harassment carried out against a victim within the confines of a workplace. It may include abuse and shout, hitting, beating, or attack, bullying and intimidation, and sexual harassment.

Here are five key questions to get your team started for this security threat.

• Does your organization believe workplace violence poses a security risk to be taken seriously?
• Does your organization have response plan in place for workplace violence?
• How confident is your organization in dealing with workplace violence?
• What kind of workplace violence have been identified to be common to your industry?
• What kind of workplace violence has your organization experienced in the past five years?

Providing answers to above questions should not be done loosely. It requires thoughtful insight which must consider size, assets, industry, complexity, experience, capabilities and resilience of the organization. Note also, factors that could possibly motivate persons to lunch acts of violence in workplace vary; however, it may include frustration, revenge, crime, rejection, and mental instability.

Here is highlight and description of five sources of workplace violence to prepare for:

Criminal intent: violence of this nature oftentimes originates from an external criminal who aims to obtain by force from a target inside the workplace. This may result to injury or fatality, and damage to assets.

Customer based: is when a customer aggressively acts or reacts to a situation connected to the business transaction in the workplace. Such aggression may target a worker, a fellow customer or others. For instance, when a customer assaults an employee because their expectations are not met.

Worker based: violence occurs when employee attacks, assault or harasses a customer, a fellow employee, the employer or others in the workplace. For example, a worker punches a fellow worker who has offended him/her beyond breaking point or attacks a superior who has refused to recommend a promotion or pay rise.

Domestic based: occurs when a relative of a worker, employer, customer or others traces them to a workplace and carries attack. For instance, a jilted or rejected lover who visits and attacks a partner in the workplace.

Ideological based: violence is a situation where an adherent of a particular belief or faith lunches attack in workplace perceived to provide or promote a service that offends such faith. For instance, a religious fanatic who carries out assault on workers or customers in a brothel and disrupt its business activities.

How to prepare for inevitable workplace violence:

Prepare with PPT – activate emergency response plan through people, process and technology. This requires having in place a capable security team who can follow a process backed by technology to deter, detect and promptly respond to acts of violence in the organization.

Build strong security culture – strong security culture demands strong tone from the top. When an organization does not tolerate permissive behavior, it will send message that support strong security culture. In such organization, policies and standards are enforced regardless of whether an act is considered a serious one or not.

Enforce background check – background check gives insight to past behaviors and profile of a candidate. It also, provides a red flag of what such person can do if granted access to join organization. For instance, someone who has history of rape in the pass will likely attempt sexual harassment in a workplace.

Provide workplace violence awareness – training employees to recognize signs and safety risks associated with workplace violence and encourage them to speak up against it is a good prevention method. For example, Human Resources unit should have a dedicated channel for people to freely and fearlessly report acts of violence.

Have onsite security visibility – having security personnel physically seen in a business premises promotes sense of safety, deters some would-be attackers from attempting to attack and generally promotes peace and security.

Promote data driven security operation – when a security team is being guided by a verifiable data; trends and patterns can be used for planning, execution and insightful delivery.  Data driven security operation can show connection between violence and a particular season e.g. weekend, evening, end of month, festive period, etc.

Integrate CCTV surveillance to security visibility – CCTV camera have strong deterrent effect on occupants of its space. The system serves to caution people to be law abiding or make attempt and get caught.

Encourage open communication – “see something, say something” is a safety and security slogan that must be encouraged amongst workforce. Sometimes a victim of covert workplace violence may not have the courage to speak up, especially if the avenue for such communication is not explicitly provided.

Train your team for threat identification – employees and others in the workplace should be trained to easily recognize threats of workplace violence and report same without fear or inhibition.

Deploy weapon detection technology – deploying weapon detection devices at company’s main access points will prevent entrance of lite weapons into the premises. With this in place, the risks of lethal attacks will be very low.

Workplace violence can originate from five main sources. However, it preventable through application of some security measures outline above.

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About Author

Azubuike Nwenewo

is a seasoned Security Practitioner; Police Officer, Security Coach, Blogger and Author. He is passionate about peacebuilding and value protection. He is an advocate for positive peace and demilitarization. He likes reading and writing.

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