Preventing Violence in the Workplace

Research and Policy Direction

The participants agreed that there were numerous avenues to pursue a workplace with a reduced risk of violence. We can begin by addressing the education and training of mental health professionals. There is a great need for clinicians that understand the dynamics of the workplace as a context for the treatment of individuals.

Case books could be developed to feature companies or agencies with minimal or decreasing violence. The case books would serve as a guide to companies that are putting programs and policies in place.

Research is needed on the causes, incidence, consequences, and means for preventing the following:

Fatal violence by insiders or disgruntled employees, former employees, and customers/clients;
Nonlethal violence;
Incidence rates for low-level physical abuse; and
Incidence of high-level verbal abuse.

Research is also needed on:

Defining the organizational context of violent episodes; and
Estimating the dollar cost of violence in the workplace, i.e., increased leave time, EAP costs, high turnover, cost of intervention meetings with employees, cost to company's public image, security costs, lost and reduced productivity, damage or sabotage of company property, etc.

Finally, research investigators should be made aware of the availability of data on workplace violence from federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor, the US. Department of Justice, the U.S. Postal Service, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As violence continues to increase across the country, we need to develop prevention strategies in our communities, schools, and workplaces. Only by incorporating prevention strategies in each of these areas can we begin to address the issue of violence. In the workplace, the importance of bringing together a multi-disciplinary team_including management, unions, mental health professionals, security, and human resources personnel is essential to the development of a comprehensive prevention strategy.

CMHS94 5002
1994

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