How to Prevent Workplace Violence?

Violence in the workplace is a serious issue that has been growing over the years, so it is important to take the steps and use the tools necessary to prevent workplace violence in your own business.

A lot of workplace violence goes unnoticed as the victims and other onlookers tend to keep quiet and look away for fear of causing even more trouble or escalating the situation for themselves.

By using the tools mentioned below, you will hopefully be able to help your employees feel safe enough to speak up when there is an issue, as well as prevent violence in the workplace altogether.

Educate Your Employees

One of the first things every business should do in order to prevent workplace violence is to educate their employees on what workplace violence entails.

Hold staff meetings and discuss the seriousness of the issue as well as what the common characteristics of violence in the workplace are.

Violence is not always as outright and brutal as some people may imagine. Sometimes it can be subtle and come in the form of harassment.

Teaching your employees about these issues and what to look for when workplace violence is suspected is the first step to preventing it in your own office.

Use Hotlines

Hotlines are a security tool offered in many companies as a way to prevent and deal with issues of workplace violence and harassment.

Now that your employees are aware of what workplace violence looks like (even in its subtle forms), they can use the hotline to call in an incident should they witness one.

Hotlines are completely anonymous as to protect the caller’s identity, so your employees can feel safe when they call in.

Hotlines allow employees to make issues of violence, harassment and suspicious behavior aware to HR and security which means more actions can be taken to prevent the issues from escalating, and deal with the issues head on if they do occur.

Install Security Cameras

Every business can benefit from having a security camera system installed in the workplace.

If the cameras are made visible and the employees are aware of their existence then people will be less likely to act out towards each other knowing that everything they do can be seen.

Make sure that even the less frequented areas are covered by cameras as this is where violent acts and harassment are more likely to occur – outside of the view of other people.

Security cameras will allow security guards to watch what is going on within the office and stop a violent act from escalating when it occurs as they will be able to react as soon as the violent behavior is noticed.

Keep an Open Line Of Communication

One of the most important tools you can use in a business to prevent workplace violence is communication. So many incidents of violence in the workplace occur because of pent up feelings of anger, frustration and stress.

Encouraging an open-door culture in your office will allow your employees to feel like they can come to you when they are experiencing high levels of stress or frustration about the job.

Keeping the lines of communication open with your employees will help them feel more at ease knowing there is someone they can talk to if they need it.