Workplace Violence Planning in the Organization - Assignment Example

Response to Discussion Affiliation Response to Discussion The main question is Are you involved in any aspect of workplace violence planning in your organization? What is and what should be your role in this planning effort? The first answer is: Domestic situations are one thing that safety managers must keep in mind and one more reason why its very important to maintain good communications with all of your employees.  One of my coworkers was telling us about a situation where one of his aquaintances was having "issues" with a former spouse.  The persons safety manager was concerned enough about the "issues" that they had an entry system put in that required the receptionist to visually see the person that was trying to gain access to the building prior to allowing entry.  When it comes to workplace violence, I think its better to be proactive and prepare for the worst.  There are some relatively easy and cheap solutions available on the market today if well look for them. Response: Even as the efforts toward the family conflicts resolution are directed to the workplace, the two parties have a role to play to end their issues. It is a shame to find a couple fighting each other in the workplace. They do not even deserve to work there, but should be fired and demoted immediately. Workplace violence indicated that the two parties involved have failed to manage the simplest bit of their life patterns; hence, they should not be kept in the workplace. A person who cannot manage his or her life is not in a position to manage workplace activities. The second answer is Workplace violence planning is done in large part at the local management level. The frequency and depth is generally outlined by corporate, but left to local managers to develop site specific training, especially considering the variation of laws from state to state. As the Safety Manager, I work closely with the Human Resources Manager to get the information presented to all of our employees. North Carolina is a State run OSHA program, and I rely a great deal on the information they have presented on their website for reference and guidance. NC DOL does a great job in providing training resources and outreach for industry. In this case, they have all relevant laws and information posted, as well as a series of PowerPoint presentations and even videos for employees to watch. We have added slightly to the slides and incorporated a small T/F test to demonstrate retention of the material. I would encourage everyone to look at the state run program websites for these resources. Federal OSHA has some posted on their website, but they are not usually as good. Oregon State has probably the best workplace violence training, even OSHA refers to their training platform on this topic, but again, it is State specific for many of the laws. Response: The program is such an assistive device to aid the workers in the methods of curbing and approaching the workplace violence. Any staff member will learn immense skills on the ways of bringing the trend down. However, even as the program focus to increase our skills in the various areas, it begins with each employee to change the behavior and approach towards violence, as well as attitude towards it. Once that is done, the rest of the training will be successful. It is evident that the program is rich in violence planning aspects. The second question is What is or should be the role of safety professionals in regards to workplace stress? The first answer is The role of the safety professional regarding workplace stress should be to identify stressors and solutions to reduce the stress or ways to deal with stress.  Stress can be caused from a variety of factors from mental, physical, as well as environmental.  It is also a well known fact that stress leads to physical and mental health issues, decreased productivity, lower morale, and increased turn over.   It is my opinion the best way to identify stressors is to ask employees.  Once you get input from those that are effected, the safety professional can then positively identify each specific issue, categorize them, then start to develop a plan.  For instance, a warehouse in Florida may not have adequate heating.  Most of the year it may not be relevant, but during abnormal cold weather, the employees may be feeling the effects of the cold.  Since it is a rare occurnce, management may not be aware, but by asking workers what is effecting them, this particular stressor can be identified.  Once identified, the company can watch the forecast and take action by renting heaters before a cold snap arrives. Mental stress is also a significant issue that needs to be addressed.  Although mental stress effects individuals differently, a system needs to be in place to help reduce it as well as help employees cope.  For example, first responders deal with terrible situations and in order to help individuals deal with heart breaking situations, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing is starting to become popular.  Although there is no way to prevent first responders from dealing with tragedy, CISD is a system that helps all individuals involved with the call deal with the situation to help prevent PTSD. In short, stress is a silent killer.  It leads to mental, cardiovascular, and other health issues.  It is not something that is simple to identify, such as fall protection, and typically does not have an acute effect on individuals.  Over time, stress is dangerous and builds.  It is almost like comparing it to chemical threshold values.  The more an individual is exposed, the more dangerous it becomes.   Response: It is very true. Stress remains the epitome of all malfunctions in the workplace. A stressed person is often underproductive. The concentration power is very low. In addition to that, stress leads to production of a hormone cortisone, which decreases the immunity of the victim. Stressed people are therefore prone to other diseases and are often unavailable in the workplace. The counsellors and psychotherapists should be available in workplace and aid in stress minimization through counselling. In addition, the work manager should introduce the aspect of annual leave and executive gym, which aid in stress release (Eisen, Allen, Bollash, & Pescatello, 2008). Reference Eisen, K. P., Allen, G. J., Bollash, M., & Pescatello, L. S. (2008). Stress management in the workplace: A comparison of a computer-based and an in-person stress-management intervention. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 486–496. Read More