5 Steps to Protect Against Work Related Violence You Can Take Right Now.

A gunmen walks into a barroom…This is not the set up to a joke. Sadly, it just happened for real in Lewiston, Maine. And the gunman then walked into a bowling alley too.

18 staff members and patrons are dead. And more are injured. No one who was at either establishment will ever be the same. Nor will either business.

Could this happen at your business, nonprofit organization, or government agency?

Yes it could. 

In a poll of small and mid-sized businesses over 90% expressed the belief that violence can happen at any business, in any industry.

So what can your organization do to reduce the risk of staff and customers being targeted? And what can you do to protect those people should someone enter intent on harming others?

In this video we’ll look at 5 actions businesses and other organizations can do to reduce their risk of work related violence and to protect their staff and their establishment from harm. 

Hi, I’m Mike Corwin and I help businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies reduce their risk of work related violence so that your staff and organization can thrive.

I’ve got a special gift for you. It’s my FREE checklist to guide your organization in ways to prevent work related violence. Here you’ll find action steps that you can take to protect your staff and organization from the different types of work related violence. Just click on the link in the description below to download this checklist right now.

Step One: Understanding The Source of Your Susceptibility to Work Related Violence 

Work related violence can strike from different sources. It can come from current and former staff; it can come from business invitees like clients, customers, patients, and vendors; it can come from the general public, both on premises and out in the community; and it can come from partners and other family members of your staff through domestic violence.

Doing a quick assessment can help your organization identify your specific areas of risk so that you can focus on an approach tailored to your needs. Here are some questions that can help you pinpoint your greatest risks:

•  Does your entity serve the general public?
•  Does your entity have a complaint and internal investigation process that instills confidence?
•  Does your entity regularly have invitees such as patients, clients, customers, or vendors on premises?
•  Does your staff visit clients at their homes or place of work?
•  Does your staff regularly interact with the general public while out in the field?
•  Does your organization employ a significant number of women or provide community related services to women?

The answers to these questions can help you to prioritize your organization’s risks and to focus on your areas of greatest risk to work related violence.

Step Two: Threat Recognition (Situational Awareness) And De-Escalation

The sooner your staff learns to recognize potential threats to their safety, the better chance they have to avoid or prevent violence from occurring. Developing the ability to recognize risks in advance, involves incorporating situational awareness each day. 

Situational awareness is the awareness of the environment around you and the people within it collected through using your senses. And how to interpret that information quickly to develop a path and approach to safety.

Situational awareness involves developing an exit strategy, both within the work environment, and while out in the community, including at a client’s home or their workplace. 

Work related violence involving the community, invitees, and family members often initiates in parking areas. Using situational awareness there can lead to quick action that prevents the violence from reaching more people.

De-escalation is your staff’s last chance to avoid violence. There are obvious limits, such as what happened in Maine when a shooter simply starts shooting. 

But, in many situations of work related violence there was an opportunity to prevent or lessen the violence through de-escalation.

De-escalation involves using a variety of listening techniques, body language, and asking questions that takes a person focused on violence and shifts that focus away, even if just for a moment or two. Basically getting that person out of his own head to better be able to redirect them away from violence.

In the case of staff on staff threats the very best way to de-escalate this risk of violence is for the employer to have a complaint and internal investigation process that instills confidence by focusing on developing as much information about the circumstance and actions involved as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to base all decisions for discipline upon the information developed as a result of the investigation process.

From an organization’s stand point making sure that your staff implements situational awareness and understands how to de-escalate situations is the most important component to keeping them safe from work related violence.

Step Three: Premises Factors That Enhances Safety

Forget all the talk about “hardening targets”. It’s like telling the victims nothing would have happened to them if only they worked in bunker.  And it doesn’t apply to most types of work related violence. After all you can’t harden the target against someone you invite inside your workplace. Or harden the outside world when your staff works in the community.

Here’s what your organization CAN do that can actually increase staff safety. 

Maximizing the interior vantage points for the fullest views of the outside property is a quick way to increase safety. Especially of the parking lot and its surroundings. To do so, make sure that nothing, such as posters, plants, or other objects obstructs the view from the windows.

Next, increase lighting so that all areas around the entrance and the parking lot are fully lit. No one should be able to approach your building without being illuminated.

Seconds matter and an unobstructed and well lighted view can be the difference between safety and tragedy.

Next. Don’t rely on cameras. Cameras must be monitored nonstop to be effective. Training the staff to notice threats and increase communication helps your staff notify others of a potential threat before tragedy ensues.

Interior spaces, such as offices, patient exam rooms, and larger areas can be laid out to prevent a potential attacker who is an invitee, such as a criminal defendant meeting with court staff, or a patient at a medical office, from being able to get between staff and an exit. 

If a potential attacker traps your staff by cutting off exit routes, your staff’s options become severely limited.

Finally, give some thought to the flow of movement from the entry point to the main spaces. Things that can slow an attacker’s movement through those areas can buy your staff the time it needs to increase safety. Vestibules, reception rooms, and hallways can be used to force an attacker to slow down. 

Step Four: Changing the Dynamics of an Attack

At the onset of an attack, whether it’s a physical assault, or a weapon involved mass attack, the attacker has a massive advantage. Mostly due to the element of surprise. The longer the attacker maintains his advantage, the more devastating the attack will be.

Changing the dynamics of an attack is the process of taking away the attacker’s initial advantage.

So how do you change the dynamics of an attack? By any means necessary. 

You can create a physical barrier or obstacle for him to have to navigate around. Or you can force the attacker to respond to your own actions. Doing so momentarily alters the situation by putting him on the defensive.

•  It can be as simple as jamming the attacker by getting so close to him that you inhibit his range of movement. 
•  Or throwing a chair that the attacker has to dodge or be hit by.
•  It can be forcing him to miss with his initial attack making him have to recalibrate. 
•  Or it can be forcing him to have to turn back, or go around a barrier, that slows down his attack or forcing him into a space where a defense can be made.

In a mass attack, people are taught to “run, hide, and fight” in that order. But, something as basic as where to hide matters to your ability to take away the attacker’s initial advantage. 

Hiding on the latch side of the door creates the opportunity to grab the weapon or the attacker as he comes through the door. Hiding on the hinge side of the door, causes you to be trapped as he pushes open the door preventing you from grabbing the weapon or engaging with the attacker.

Step Five: How to Stop an Attack Safely and Quickly

There may be a time when your staff has no choice but to defend against an attack. Whether the attack occurs in a client’s home, out on the street, in a parking lot, or in your organization’s work space, knowing how to defend yourself can be the difference between safety and tragedy.

Although it feels counterintuitive, you need to move toward the attacker, and not try to back away. Backing away puts you at a disadvantage in multiple ways. 

•  Getting in close allows you to jam the attacker so that he can’t use all of his force.
•  Getting in close allows you to gain control of any weapon he may have. 
•  Getting in close allows you to strike or grab the attacker.
•  Once you start to back away, you will encounter an obstruction, a wall, a vehicle, or another person. That obstruction to movement literally becomes a second attacker by restricting your movement and options.

When it comes to an attack, particularly one with a weapon like a knife or a gun, your safety depends on controlling the weapon. To control a bladed weapon, controlling the hand/wrist area of an attacker is most helpful. When it comes to a firearm, controlling the barrel is the most important thing.

And once you engage with an attacker, don’t stop to see if what you did worked. Keep engaging until you create a point where you can safely exit.

Want to learn more about protecting your staff and organization from work related violence. Make sure to download my FREE checklist. It’s chock full of steps that you can take to protect your staff and organization from the different types of work related violence. You’ll find a link in to it in the description below.