Ways to prevent workplace violence among workers
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The level of violence in our society is a growing problem, the importance of taking measures to prevent workplace violence has become increasingly urgent to businesses that want to protect the safety of their employees.
Most cases of fatal death within the working environment are often caused by uncontrollable violence among employees. When you know how to prevent workplace violence, you can be part of the solution and make your company a safer place for all employees.
Below are things to do that will help to reduce to a very minimum level the rate of violence in a working environment.
1. Detailed Background check on employable employees.
The organization should learn to study everyone who is employable by their company. A detailed background check will give the employer an idea of what such a person whom they are ready to employ can do or not. For those that have a recent violence conviction, you may decide to retract the job offer to avoid that kind of behavior in your workplace.
2. Have a policy that stands against harassment, fights, and any form of violence
Most workplace violence often starts with harassment from one employee to another, continuous persecution, bullying, and/or troubling behavior that intimidates others. Such attributes should be duly addressed. There should be a policy that addresses any workplace complaints efficiently and privately. While creating this policy, itâs important to involve each level of the facility, including managers, employees, and executives.
3. Create an effective and straightforward line of communication.
Apart from harassment, one of the major causes of workplace violence is an indirect and not straightforward line of communication. Every employee should be given access to conflict-resolution resources, which makes them feel more responsible to communicate. Also, providing an open line of communication to management, HR and other key members of your company will help create an environment where employees can make sure their grievances are heard and properly responded to.
4. Training and raising awareness against workplace violence
Take the time to have training sessions about how to respond to a violent incident so your staff knows how to react when it occurs. Every person within the organization should be trained on the need to shun anything relating to workplace violence. Workplace safety should rather be a priority all the time.
5. Encourage the need to understand individual differences.
People come from different races, tribes, ethnicity, and nationality. All this brings about different beliefs in things and their functions.
Personality clashes or leadership style differences exist in every workplace. If left unresolved, these issues could result in job dissatisfaction or depression, and even violence (in the form of verbal abuse, sabotage, or worse). Therefore, organizations should ensure to train every worker on individual differences and how to tolerate each other for a better working environment.
It is important to take steps to prevent violence in the workplace, but it is also equally as important to prepare your people to respond to any form of violence in case it occurs. Employees must be trained on handling violent situations in a mature way at all times.
