Violence against employees is one of the biggest security problems of modern organizations. Whether it is violent patients in medical institutions, passengers on public transport, guests in tourist accommodation or customers in shops - organizations must ensure the protection of their employees.

Employees are exposed to various forms of violence. The most common are cases of psychological violence, which includes yelling, insults, insults, harassment and even direct threats. Harassment at the workplace, or mobbing, can also be considered part of psychological violence. A special category is also psychological violence via telephone, e-mail, internet and other communication channels. A particularly problematic form of violence is physical violence, which includes cases of pushing, slapping, kicking, hitting or biting, as well as attacks on life with the use of weapons.

Organizations have been aware of the issue of violence for a long time and accordingly take some measures to prevent the occurrence and mitigate the consequences of violence against employees. This usually includes the preparation of policies, the implementation of periodic trainings and the implementation of some technical security solutions. However, these measures are mostly unrelated, generalized, poorly implemented and meaningless for certain jobs, organizational units and even entire organizations.

Prevention of workplace violence requires a unified, systematic and analytically supported approach that addresses all employees, organizational units, locations and other stakeholders. In this way, the measures complement each other, are optimized and adapted to the specific characteristics of each organization. This enables the organization to more successfully prevent the occurrence of violence, while at the same time reacting to individual incidents more effectively.

How to establish an effective violence prevention program in the organization?

There is no universal approach to violence prevention. Just as organizations differ in their core activities, locations of business units, number of employees and customer characteristics, they also differ in their exposure to violence. Therefore, before establishing a comprehensive violence prevention program, it is necessary to carry out a situation analysis. The analysis of the situation has two goals: (1) to analyze the occurrence of violence within the organization, and (2) to identify and evaluate the existing security measures with which the organization controls violence against employees. In this way, the organization gains a comprehensive insight into the real risks to which it is most exposed. Namely, organizations often do not have a realistic or comprehensive insight into the incidence of violence against employees and consequently take inadequate measures. The results of the performed analysis present to the management of the organization which risks related to violence the organization is exposed to, and how successful the existing security measures are in reducing them. Of course, simply performing the analysis is not enough - concrete measures must be taken to reduce the risks that the analysis exposes. 

Measures to prevent violence must optimally address the risks to which the organization is exposed in the field of violence. In doing so, we must aim to establish a comprehensive system of violence prevention, which means that individual measures must be interconnected and complement each other. The results of the analysis are primarily of great help to us, but it is certainly necessary to take into account other factors as well. The measures must not excessively interfere with the daily processes within the organization or negatively affect the relations between employees in any way. Although it is almost always employees who want the organization to take more measures to prevent violence, with excessive interventions in daily activities, the opposite can be achieved and employees do not follow the measures taken. 

What measures should we take in the organization? 

Regardless of the fact that there is no universal approach to the prevention of violence, there are areas of measures that are relevant for all organizations. Organizations must address the following areas as part of a comprehensive violence prevention program:

1. Provision of adequate infrastructure. Organizations must provide an infrastructure that provides a safe working environment for employees. It is also important not to forget the infrastructural factors that influence the emergence of aggressive behavior (e.g. too small waiting rooms, uncomfortable seats on the bus, poor ventilation, excessive noise, etc.). 
2. Providing a supportive environment, rules, policies, protocols and guidance for dealing with violence. Words on paper alone cannot eliminate violence against employees, but they can serve as a basis for accepting and implementing the necessary measures. In the organization, it is necessary to establish a formal framework for recognizing, preventing and dealing with violence. It is necessary to clearly define measures to prevent violence and protocols for action in cases where violence occurs. Responsibilities in dealing with incidents must be clearly defined, and clear and transparent communication with employees and the public is also important. 
3. Establishing an education program. Organizational security in all its forms always starts with the employees. Although we cannot prevent all cases of violence, good communication and appropriate treatment of aggressive individuals can successfully de-escalate conflicts that could otherwise lead to the outbreak of serious cases of violence. It is necessary to teach employees how to respond appropriately to various forms of violence, and at the same time provide them with information about internal instructions and protocols for dealing with violence. When preparing the training program, it is important not to generalize the content of the training to all employees, but to prepare it according to the risk assessment of individual jobs, and to offer the content to employees in different formats that attract their attention. 
4. Optimization of physical and technical security measures. Adequate systems of physical and technical protection can greatly contribute to the effective management of violence against employees. Physical and technical security measures have a preventive and reactive role in the violence prevention system. The presence of physical and technical security measures deters potentially violent individuals from aggressive security, protects employees and increases their sense of security. In the event of an outbreak of violence, the presence of the physical security service ensures the possibility of intervention, and the video surveillance system records evidence for possible further procedures. Of course, it is necessary to take into account that not all measures are suitable for all organizations and it is necessary to implement them systematically on the basis of the actual threat.

Whats next?

Of course, establishing a comprehensive violence prevention program is too complex a process to cover in one blog post. At the Institute for Security and Strategic Research, we strive to help you with this and make the process as easy as possible for you - while, of course, raising the level of protection of your employees against violence. For this purpose, we also enable organizations to obtain a certificate Certified violence prevention program in the organization, with which, in addition to compliance with safety standards and good practices, you also externally demonstrate your commitment to providing a safe working environment. 

You can read more about the establishment of a comprehensive violence prevention program here connection.