Violence in the Workplace

Excerpted from Preventing and Managing Workplace Violence: Legal and Strategic Guidelines

(Chapter 11 — "Proactive Planning: Conducting a Site Security Assessment for the Public Sector")

By Michael Crane and Jack F. Dowlin / Edited by Mark A. Lies II

A Security Assessment Approach

The security site assessment of the facility should include four areas of consideration:

1. Physical, electronic, and design security features. In this evaluation, barriers, lights, locks, alarms, and video monitoring systems should be examined.
2. Security personnel. In this area, type, authority, training, staffing, deployment, etc., should be evaluated.
3. Security policies, procedures, and practices. Regulations concerning access control, visitor management, codes of conduct, etc., should be examined in light of workplace violence issues.
4. Security and crime prevention awareness, education, and training programs. All current workplace violence programs should be reviewed for relevancy.

Each of these crucial areas needs to be viewed in light of the identified risk. The security sitessessment should center on the violence analysis conducted on the specific workplace violence threat or general threat condition. Once all vulnerabilities are disclosed, priorities and hierarchies can be established, and the necessary resources and funds can be distributed.

Since the security site assessment will vary based upon the type of the workplace violence threat or incident, each component of the assessment will be discussed.

Sponsoring Entity:

Section of State and Local Government Law