Tips For Dealing With Workplace Violence

There are always going to be problems when you put a lot of people in a facility, where they must co-exist in harmony, focused on their respective roles. Tempers can flare and this can lead to an assault of some form, which is never a nice thing. 

Here are some tips on how to best deal with employee violence:

• Create An Incident Action Plan – There are companies that carry out risk assessments for violence in the workplace and they can help you design a response plan for a wide range of scenarios, including armed hostage and physical altercations among workers. Of course, an incident of assault might lead to dismissal and you would require representation by legal experts. You would have to ensure all the staff is aware of security policies as well as ways they can protect themselves is certain scenarios.

• Seek Expert Legal Advice – As soon as you are made aware of an instance of violent at the workplace, you should contact a leading HR agency that provides employment tribunal support for UK business owners. This type of agency has a team of employment law specialists, and they would advise you regarding initial response, which might be to interview the perpetrator and the victim. Of course, you would have covered this topic in your employment policies and action should be in accordance with this.

• Risk Assessment – Some work environments present a higher risk of violence occurring than others and if you can identify potential processes or scenarios, you can make some positive changes. If you would like to learn more about the many services a leading HR agency offers, search online for a provider and browse their website.

• Collect Evidence – Once you have recorded an account of the incident in your report, you should take a look at the CCTV, if it is available. Talking to witnesses is also a good idea. The HR agency would advise you on what action to take, which may or may not include criminal charges, depending on the severity of the injuries sustained.

• Zero Policy – You need to have a zero policy towards violence at the workplace and the HR agency can help you create such a document, while also helping employees to have a better understanding of the rules on this subject. The policy should be clearly stated in the terms and conditions of employment, and it can make things much easier when incidents do occur.

• Employee Training – It is important to help your workers to recognise certain situations when it is more likely that violence might erupt. A local HR agency would be able to compile a short training course to help all employees gain a deeper insight into what causes violent incidents to erupt.

Whether you have 30 or 300 employees, violence could occur at any time and when you enlist the help of a leading HR agency, you can be sure to have all the right preventions in place to minimise the risk of violence in the workplace.