Keeping Employees Happy and Safe

1458 Words3 Pages

What is workplace violence and where does it come from? When you hear the words many peoples’ first thoughts are of coworker’s fist fighting and screaming at one another. These are good examples but there are other forms of workplace violence. Bullying, harassment and intimidation are also types of workplace violence. The violence doesn’t always come from coworker to coworker interactions. Customers can create workplace violence. Robbery is a perfect example of an outsider creating workplace violence. Outside delivery personnel or vendors can also create workplace violence. People that have a relationship with an employee can also create violence at a workplace. For example, a husband or wife can create violence at the spouse’s workplace. (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_violence#Types_of_workplace_violence). According to the CDC 1.7 million people are victims of violent crimes while working in the US annually (CDC, Occupational Violence, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/violence/). That is a staggering amount of people being injured.

So how do businesses prevent workplace violence? According to the USDA website the most important portion is a workplace prevention plan. (USDA, The USDA Handbook on Workplace Violence, Prevention and Response, http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/violence/wpv.htm#three). Prevention of workplace violence begins even before an individual is hired. Proper pre-screening of employment candidates is essential. Many companies have implemented a series of questions designed to show areas of concern for employers. According to Hire the Best People these questions can help an employer spot attitude problems, determine how an applicant handles feedback, help an applicant tal...

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