Managing Workplace Violence Risk

For today’s blog, I want to discuss risk control strategies focused on Managing Workplace Violence Risk.

As a brief refresher, Managing Workplace Violence insurance responds to threats of workplace violence and actual violent events to help fill in coverage that is normally not covered in other business insurance policies. 

Like all business risks, those managed have a lower incident rate and lower costs when they occur than risks that are not managed or controlled.  This is true of liability risks, property risks, and worker injury risks, and it’s true for workplace violence as well. 

Also, like all other risk control measures, commitment starts at the top with ownership and management buy-in and support.  This is true of all risk control strategies.  Without Managing Workplace Violence Risk, risk control objectives are rarely reached. 

The second common element of all risk control measures is that it must be a written plan that is discussed, adopted, and disseminated among all stakeholders and employees. 

Like most risk management plans, this jumps into:

• employee training and emergency action plans, 
• conducting mock training exercises 
• identifying potential warning signs in employees 
• integrating security systems into workplace violence mitigation 
• adopting a zero-tolerance policy towards workplace violence 
• and much more. 

Look, it’s an uncomfortable topic that most employers don’t want to face or think will happen to them.  But it’s another step in your health and safety risk management process that can save lives and improve your company’s chance of survival should an event occur in your workplace. 

Employers at higher risk of workplace violence include those: 

• With 24-hour operations or late night operations 
• Working with unstable people 
• In businesses exchanging money with the public 
• Working where alcohol is served and 
• Working in areas with high crime rates. 

OSHA has found higher risks among workers in the following categories: 

• delivery drivers 
• healthcare professionals 
• public service workers 
• customer service agents 
• law enforcement personnel 
• and those working in small groups or alone. 

The bottom line is this.  No business can afford to ignore the risks of workplace violence. Workplace Violence is a growing threat that can be minimized if treated properly with risk controls and backstopped by workplace violence insurance to remediate the costs if an event does occur.