Prevention of Workplace Violence
Careful and thoughtful communication is the best tool to
avoid incidents of workplace violence. Handle problems with
and between employees quickly, fairly, and consistently. The
following prevention measures can be used to minimize the
risk of violence in the workplace.
- Maintain open lines of communication with employees. Keep
all employees informed of pertinent workplace issues. Conduct
open meetings with staff when practical. Ask your employees
for safety suggestions and implement them as soon as possible.
- Lock doors that lead to non-public work areas. Only lock
doors from the outside so that emergency exits are not obstructed.
- Design work areas to provide a secondary escape exit.
- Coordinate all phases of the termination process through
Human Resources. Improperly handled terminations can cause
employee humiliation and result in anger.
- Plan ahead, boost security, and communicate with University Police officers.
- Take all threats of violence seriously. Watch for and
document the "warning signs".
- Consult with on-campus counseling services.
Departmental staff should work together to devise specific
approaches to implement these guidelines.
Revised: 7/22/2008 SB