It is the intent of this workplace violence prevention plan effectively address and plan for the measurable reduction of negative outcomes from workplace violence incidents. Through the workplace violence prevention committee, facility physical security walk-through, employee historic workplace violence survey, and current policy review, the committee will identify effective workplace violence mitigations.
Dr. Richard Acme, Board of Directors, and the entire C-Suite leadership fully support the workplace violence prevention program. The workplace violence prevention planning committee will be given our full support in their goal of reducing the negative outcomes from workplace violence incidents.
At this time ACME Hospital has a risk committee, active shooter training program, online workplace violence awareness video, and quarterly critical incident tracking.
The workplace violence committee has completed a physical security walk-through of the ACME Hospital. Utilizing the “Workplace Violence Prevention Engineering” findings, provide a general
overview of the physical security or other risks that worker is currently facing. The engineering
or security by environmental design can be a cost-effective way to reduce the threat of
workplace violence
ACME Hospital is located in a high crime area. The hospital is a critical access hospital for mental health patients, has a pharmacy, and one of the busiest Emergency Departments in America. Other factors, such as religious affiliation, abortions performed, teaching hospital, and others. If your organization has any type of negative perceived factors, it is important to identify these factors. There may be little to no mitigation measures available to help offset the risk.
However, a heightened awareness to the risks can act as a substantial mitigation
Training should be provided in-person and by professional(s) that have specific education
and training in workplace violence prevention. It is recommended that you seek assistance
from your local Law Enforcement or Security Consultant(s) with workplace violence prevention
knowledge. See training tab for recommended training topics.
All training received by the employees should be compliant to the organizational policies for
self-defense techniques and de-escalation methods. Both courses should contain a hands-on component
The supervisors and managers receive the same annual training as the other staff members. The security leadership attend an annual refresher course for security leadership and crisis incident mitigation.
The security officers complete the State regulated 40-hour course and annual refresher. The officers complete the online training for active shooter survival and workplace violence awareness. Some officers have completed the IAHSS certification process.
Utilizing the factors identified in physical security walk-through and historic workplace violence events surveys, the most effective training needs have been identified. The training will be evaluated quarterly by the workplace violence prevention committee to obtain the data and see if the training is reducing negative workplace violence outcomes.
Throughout the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, Training, Response, and Recovery processes,
clear and effective documentation is vital. As the saying goes, “If it’s not written down, it didn’t
happen”. Documenting every element of the process allows for tracking of staff training, occurrences
of workplace violence, mitigating against future events, and defending against litigation.
Utilizing the workplace violence incident report form, Human Recourses reports, and Financial Department workers compensation records, the full impact of workplace violence events are tracked. The monthly report is analyzed to identify injury to employee, cost of time lost, cost of medical care, type of incident, future mitigation methods, and if applicable cost of litigation.
In review of the historical workplace violence reports and current workplace violence event data, the committee have prioritized the works hazards as:
An effective process of identifying potential hazards is through employee questionnaires and
surveys. The detailed baseline screening survey can help pinpoint tasks that place workers at
risk. At a minimum the survey should be conducted annually, however more frequent surveys
can help identify issues quicker. A survey should be completed after a workplace violence
event occurs. The general, non-event specific surveys should be reviewed monthly by the
Workplace Violence Prevention Committee at their meeting. An example of a simple survey:
• What daily activities, if any, expose you to the greatest risk of violence?
• What, if any, work activities make you feel unprepared to respond to a violent action?
• Can you recommend any changes or additions to the workplace violence prevention
training you received?
• Can you describe how a change in a patient’s routine may have affected the
precautions you take to address potential for workplace violence?
More questions can be added to better understand the baseline threat picture.
Hazard Prevention and Control
After hazards are identified, how can they be prevented and controlled?
Continually review the farmstead, shop areas and work practices to control or prevent
workplace hazards.
Some ways to prevent and control hazards are:
Incident investigation is a process for reporting, tracking, and investigating incidents that includes (1) a formal process for investigating incidents, including staffing, performing, documenting, and tracking investigations of process safety incidents and (2) the trending of incident and incident investigation data to identify recurring incidents. This process also manages the resolution and documentation of recommendations generated by the investigations. Figure 19.1 shows an overview of the incident's element activities. At some facilities, the incidents element is used to assign blame to personnel involved in an incident. This approach results in ineffective recommendations being implemented. A more effective approach is to develop recommendations that address the systemic causes of the incidents. The incidents element is not a process to assign blame, but a process to develop effective recommendations to address the underlying, system-related causes of incidents.
This is where you would describe in detail the after care for the mental health of all staff involved or not involved in the incident, Understand, the mere threat of the incident can have lasting mental health issues, causing a feeling of an unsafe workplace.
ACME Hospital is a critical access hospital and the employees have contact with the public all day. There is a mental health unit located in the hospital and a birthing center.
ACME Hospital has a gift shop, public pharmacy, and cafe', all of which have cash opertations.
Throughout the hospital and our home health department, employees have the opportunity to be alone with clients or visitors.
There is staff on duty 24/7
Due to the current COVID19 pandemic, staffing levels have been affected by sick employees and high turnover rates.
ACME Hospital is located in the highest crime rate in Orlando Florida
The parking area is located outside of the main hospital building and in accessible to the public
The home health department utilizes their personal vehicles for traveling to client homes. The security staff has mobile patrol vehicles to patrol the parking areas and perimeter of the hospital.
The staff interact with the public all day, every day.
At times service is denied to clients due to lack of insurance coverage or the hospital does not provide their required procedure.
As ACME Hospital is located in a high crime area, the hospital sees many clients from the neighborhood.
It is a fairly frequent situation where clients with past workplace violence incidents are seen in the hospital.