LESSONS LEARNED & THE FUTURE OF
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE PREVENTION
Key Lessons Learned:
No one “just snaps”. Workplace violence is the end result of a long pattern of
behavior.
Some one knows what is coming! There are very few true surprises.
There are (sometimes many) opportunities to intervene in ways which could
prevent a violent act from occurring.
Not all warnings or “red flags” are equal! But all warnings should be looked at
carefully.
FRAMEWORK FOR
UNDERSTANDING &
Create
Predict
React
Ignore
a Safe & Healthy Toxic
to a Threat Actual or Potential
Work Environment Situations of Violence Threats to Safety
PREVENTION
EARLY
LATE STAGE POST INCIDENT
INTERVENTION INTERVENTION TRAUMA RESPONSE
IDEA
ACTION
Troubled,
Difficult or
“Seriously Annoying”
LOW
MOD
HIGH
KNOWN
or SEEN
UNKNOWN
NOT SEEN
Threat
Assault
Hostile
Violence Risk Assessment
What is the distinction between . . . ?
Mental Health Evaluation
Fitness for Duty Evaluation
Threat:
A person makes a threat.
Threat:
A person is acting in a manner that would
reasonably be perceived as threatening.
Threat:
A person poses a threat and is dangerous.
BEHAVIORAL &
PPC Framework for Understanding
Violence Risk Assessment and Intervention
Risk of Violence Levels
Intent
and
Means to Do Harm
Communication of a
Threat to Do Harm or
Other Threatening Behavior
Inappropriately Aggressive,
Hostile or Intimidating Behavior
HIGH RISK
ASSESSMENT
RESPONSE
OUTCOME
Underestimate Risk
Under-respond or Ignore
Situation Escalates
Overestimate Risk
Over-respond or “Knee-jerk”
Situation Escalates
Accurately Assess Risk
Apply Appropriate Strategy Situation De-escalates
to Match Level of Risk
Criteria for Citation
A serious workplace hazard exists and the
employer failed to keep it’s workplace free of
hazards which employees were exposed.
Industry and Employer Recognition
The hazard caused or was likely to cause death or
serious physical harm.
There are feasible abatement methods available to
But…
as Labor Code 6302(h) excludes “any injury or illness or
death caused by the commission of a Penal Code
violation” from the definition of serious injury or illness,
Cal/OSHA has no mandatory duty to respond to such
incidents. However, Cal/OSHA does have the
Threat Assessment Team:
Distinct Yet Overlapping Roles
Summary:
The Safety professional is in a unique position to assess the work setting for
potential risk factors and to recognize organizational risk factors that may
contribute to violence.
Organizations must provide on-going training at all levels of the organization
which places recognition and response to potential violence as an essential
element of the Company’s safety program.
Deal with conflict or hostile situations early – before they escalate. Workplace
violence can’t be prevented without addressing aggressive or otherwise
inappropriate behavior.
About the Presenter:
• Mr. Prince has over 25 years experience with private corporations and public agencies
specializing in threat management, conflict resolution, and impaired employee identification. He is a partner with Dr. Ann Phelps in the firm Prince/Phelps Consultants. They have consulted on more than 1,000 cases of threatening situations or acts of violence in the workplace. Their
consultations have been in response to a wide array of situations ranging from intimidation, harassment and verbal threats to physical assaults, acts of sabotage, felony stalking,
discharging firearms in the workplace and on-the-job homicide. Mr. Prince and Dr. Phelps have been primary responders to several incidents involving multiple homicides including the United States Post Office, Dana Point, CA (May, 1993), the City of Los Angeles Piper Technical Center (July, 1995), the United States Department of Agriculture, Port of Los Angeles (April, 1998), and the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services (February, 2005). Consultation includes risk of violence assessment, development and participation on corporate threat assessment teams, supervisory coaching and ongoing assistance in case management.
• Mr. Prince has served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists and chaired a task force on occupational trauma for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He also has served as the president of the Association of Threat Assessment
Professionals, Los Angeles Chapter since 2007. He most recently served on a joint ASIS-SHRM task force to develop national standards and guidelines for workplace violence prevention
programs.
• Further, Mr. Prince is a Drug Recognition Expert Instructor with the Los Angeles Police
Department. He is an expert in the articulation of “reasonable cause” for workplace drug testing and has trained over 10,000 supervisors in a variety of industries to identify and confront the suspected substance-abusing employee. Mr. Prince has provided DOT compliance training for personnel from over 100 different agencies throughout California.
• Mr. Prince received his master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from UCLA and his B.A. in Sociology from USC.
