Workplace violence can be triggered by a number of different factors and is often difficult to predict. Threats may come from inside the company (e.g. disgruntled/emotionally disturbed employees) or outside (e.g. an abusive spouse, terrorism, robbery). It costs employers billions of dollars and contributes to millions of lost days of work a year. Aside from practical and financial reasons, employers have a legal duty to respond to employee’s notice of threats and harassment. So it is imperative that employers address the problem.
It’s often said that the best policy against workplace violence is prevention. That’s why so many companies have installed workplace violence prevention plans: to anticipate and reduce violence.
The EASE Program can help companies develop a prevention plan. We can help you develop procedures for reporting incidents of violence and, more importantly, we can train your supervisors to identify the signs of a potentially violent employee, to understand the risks, and to understand when and how to intervene.
EASE Program training can help prevent violence as well as show employees ways to neutralize situations that could lead to violence.