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Violence at Workplace

In: Business and Management

Submitted By Ahmedkhater
Words 642
Pages 3
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

Problem Definition
Violence or the threat of violence that took place in the work setting, ranging from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and homicide. Coworkers, strangers, customers or even the personal relations, could do it.
E.g. Shootings, Rapes, Suicides, phone calls threats

Justification of the Problem
1- Lack of Pre-employment Screening
Absence of the pre-employment screening could lead to the risk of hiring someone who could be prone to violence, or has a violent past. Running psychological tests during the hiring process is a good tool to lower the potentially violent candidates and should not be substituted for a thorough background check.

2- Personal and work Stress
Stress of a workplace and personal nature besides the overworking employees can create a hostile work environment, causing an employee to snap and lash out at whomever the perceived enemy is.

3- Angry customers and former employees
Customer who feels he was been cheated and an employee who was fired, laid off or wronged by a co-worker can lash off the company leading to a workplace violence.

4- Lack of an employee assistance policy
By such policy, employees have an impartial party with whom they can discuss the stressors in their life and possibly receive the assistance or treatment their need before things escalate into violence. 5- Employer ignorance
Ignorance of the potential for violence in an organization will cause an organization not to put proper safety and conflict resolution measures into place, leaving the organization vulnerable to such an attack from employees and customers, and lacking the tools to diffuse the situation.

List of Alternatives
1- Management commitment with the employee participation to prevent the workplace violence.
2- Worksite analysis leading to hazard prevention and Safety training
3- Recordkeeping and program evaluation.

Evaluate Alternatives
Management commitment with the employee participation to prevent the workplace violence. Developing procedures to ensure that management and employees are involved in the creation and operation of a workplace violence prevention program can be achieved through regular meetings possibly as a team or committee. Involvement of the top management provides the motivation and resources for workers and employers to deal effectively with workplace violence.

Through involvement and feedback, workers can provide useful information to employers to design, implement and evaluate the program. In addition, workers with different functions and at various organizational levels bring a broad range of experience and skills to program design, implementation, and assessment.
Worksite analysis leading to hazard prevention and Safety training
A worksite analysis involves a mutual step-by-step assessment of the workplace to find existing or potential hazards that may lead to incidents of workplace violence. Cooperation between workers and employers in identifying and assessing hazards is the foundation of a successful violence prevention program.
Once the worksite analysis is complete, it should be used to identify the types of hazard prevention and control measures needed to reduce or eliminate the possibility of a workplace violence incident occurring. In addition, it should assist in the identification or development of appropriate training.
Supervisors and managers must be trained to recognize high-risk situations, so they can ensure that workers are not placed in assignments that compromise their safety. Such training should include encouraging workers to report incidents and to seek the appropriate care after experiencing a violent incident.

Recordkeeping and program evaluation
Recordkeeping and evaluation of the violence prevention program are necessary to determine its overall effectiveness and identify any deficiencies or changes that should be made. Accurate records (injuries, incidents, assaults, corrective actions, worker histories and training) can help employers determine the severity of the problem in particular locations or jobs, then to evaluate methods of hazard control like as training and policies in order to develop an effective prevention program.

Recommendations
I do recommend a combination of the first and the second alternatives.

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