Workplace Violence Prevention and Management Program
Recent events in Hawaii have made both employers and employees more aware of
workplace violence and they are getting more concerned regarding their personal safety.
The Xerox shooting and the Sheraton stabbing are good examples of such violent episodes.
Both incidences exhibited prior evidence of violence in the workplace; and if proper
intervention by management was initiated, these tragedies could have been prevented.
Therefore, employers need a good workplace violence program to protect their employees
as well as their customers.
Tripler Army Medical Center is implementing such a workplace violence program. The
purpose of the program is to protect the hospitals employees, patients, visitors and
volunteers from workplace violence. Violence, as defined in the program, is unwanted or
hostile physical contact, threat or harassment that may occur between or among
employees, patients, volunteers or visitors. Tripler knows that no employer is immune
from workplace violence; however, the hospital is committed to promoting a work
environment free from violence, threat of violence, harassments, intimidation and other
disruptive behavior.
The main focus of the program is to identify potential violent incidents and to use early
intervention to prevent such from occurring. The program must train its staff to look for
warning signs of trouble, identify the problem, and diffuse the potential violent situation.
The Social
Work Service Department has been given the task of designing this program, and the
Safety Office has been given the task of implementing and will be the proponent of the
program.
The initial training of the employees of the hospital is to train the trainer. In other words,
