Emergency management unit 4 (1)

Posted: November 27th, 2013

Emergency management unit 4 (1)

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Emergence Management Unit 4 (1)

Workplace violence can be defined as the act of threatening behavior, physical assaults, or aggression experienced at the workstation, which may result into both physical and emotional harm to clients, workers, or even employers. Currently, workplace violence is increasing at a very alarming rate thus the need for serious attention in order to reduce the negative effects it causes to the health and safety of individuals. For instance, due to this new trend, mass murders in the workplace by unstable workers have become media-intensive events. Indeed, some argue that the current increase in such cases may have been an impression developed by the ever-increasing attention from the media.

The main categories of workplace violence include violence acts by criminals who have no other associations with the workplace, but who come in to commit robbery or another crime. This type of violence is noted to account for most of the workplace homicides – about 80percent. The main intention of such violence is always theft where the participants are known to carry guns or other dangerous weapons, illustrating that the victim may be seriously injured or even killed. The main victims of such violence are those individuals whose work makes them vulnerable. They include late night retail or gas station clerks, taxi drivers, and those who work overnight shifts, as well as those whose workstations are located in isolated places or dangerous neighborhood (Critical Incident Response Group, 2010).

Another type of violence is the violence directed at employees by consumers, clients, patients, students, inmates, or any others to whom an organization provides services. These include violent acts on the manager and often happen when employees are carrying out their daily routines. This type of violence occurs because of poor services, denial, or delayed services to the customer hence the customers’ development of anger or frustration, which may lead to serious injuries. People under threat of such violent acts also include nurses as well as doctors.

The third type of violence involves violent acts directed at coworkers, supervisors, or managers by current or former workers (Gustin, 2010). The participants in this type of violence in most cases try to follow a worker or the manager to the work places as a way of revenging or causing harm to them. This is a dangerous violent act that requires attention just like any other type of violence committed at workplaces.

The final type of violence involves acts committed in the workplace by non-employees who have a close relationship with a worker within the organization. These may comprise of a spouse who is very abusive or a domestic partner. In cases like this, there is always a chance that some warning sign will have reached the manager in the form of observable behavior. Therefore, with such awareness, appropriate prevention programs can be developed to help curb the potential for violence or eliminate it.

The biggest threat to my current workplace from the above violence categories includes violence acts by criminals who have no other associations with the workplace, but who come in to commit robbery or other crimes. This is because the organization has grown and expanded so much therefore most crime committed is theft by the robbers. For this reason, the organization’s manager has employed some measures that could be used as a response to the threat. These include training programs for employees that emphasize the commitment of management to employee safety.

The program shows that the management will be responsible for any reported incidents of threats, intimidation, harassment, or abuse (Jeet, 2002). From the program, the workers will be able to report any type of threat to the management, aid workers in knowing the procedures for reporting incidents, inclusive of phone numbers for the appropriate personnel in case of a crisis or an emergency. The manager of the facility has also implemented maximum physical security measures, special employer policies and employee awareness programs.

Reference

Critical Incident Response Group. (2010). Workplace violence: issues in response. Virginia: FBI Academy. Retrieved From: http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/workplace-violence.

Gustin, J. (2010). Disaster and Recovery Planning: A Guide for Facility Managers. Michigan: Fairmont Press, Inc.

Jeet, S (2002). Disaster recovery planning. New York, NY: Premier Press.