Importance of Training in Public Safety - Essay Example

The role of Human Resource Management in promoting the importance of public safety training for the organizations of both public and private sector is discussed in details, as the level of safety knowledge as well as the realization of the issue's seriousness is extremely low among the enterprises. The main conclusion of the work is that HRM play essential role in developing policies for safety training implementation in the public entities and private companies. Key words: public safety training, Human Resource Management, work violence, strategy. Importance of training in public safety The topic of the work is related to the discussion of why training in public safety is important and why the idea of its importance should be made public. Special accent is made on the role of Human Resource Management personnel in promoting these public safety policies as well as their importance. Despite the fact, that various organizations put a special stress on the necessity to train personnel in the sphere of public safety, many still neglect it. This is why it is essential to discuss the issue in more details. The work will be designed according to the following outline. The background of the problem should be described, and it is clear that it is connected with both the negligence of personnel towards it and the growing threats for the public safety all over the world. The combination of these two factors makes the issue of public safety training of vital importance. The historical perspective is also essential to make the discussion complete. The research will be made through the various literary sources, and will pay additional attention to the importance of public safety training in the light of the events which regularly take place in the country; it does not only include the threat of terrorist attacks, but accidents of mass murders in public places, while any organization and personnel may become the victims of such crimes. The aim of the work is to make the reader understand that public safety training has become the integral part of the public personnel management, but not only specialists, but personnel themselves should pay more attention to this issue, as their lives depend on the way they address training. The key attention will be paid to the role of the HRM in providing public safety training and the imporance of this training in private companies and in public safety organizations as well. Background The background of the problem relating to the importance of training in public safety lies in the fact that accidents of various kinds often become the reason for injuries and deaths, this is why training in the sphere of public safety is essential for the organizations, and this aspect should be made an integral part of the public personnel management. In order to estimate the level at which public safety training should be provided in the various organizations, it is essential to see what knowledge personnel possesses at present. The level of safety knowledge in the modern community is different, and thus among the aims of the present work will be to discover the level of the safety knowledge in the modern community among different personnel, and to relate it to the importance of the public safety training. In order to see the importance of the public safety training in public personnel management, the examples of workplace violence will be taken; they often become the causes of deaths and are neglected in the same way, thus needing special attention. The background of the public safety training issue lies in the fact, that this aspect should not only be made one of the priority ones, but should also exercise various techniques for that. However, the background of the problem is directly connected with the historical perspective which should also be discussed in this work. Historical perspective Not only must an organization see to it that employees' rights are not violated, but it must also provide a safe and healthy working environment. Mondy and Noe (1996) define safety as 'protecting employees from injuries caused by work-related accidents" and health as keeping 'employees free from physical or emotional illness' (p. 432). In the historical perspective the public safety training should not only lead to the higher level of safety knowledge in the chosen community, but to decrease the number of fatal accidents related to workplace violence; however, it is still clear that despite the realization of the importance of the issue, as well as the existence of various safety programs, the level of safety knowledge among community members, especially at workplaces, is insufficient; the reasons for this fact may lie in either lower level of attention towards the problem on the side of the personnel (organizations often lack proper policies which should be developed by HRM) or in the low level of training personnel possesses. It will be interesting to look at the problem from the viewpoint of the general personnel management in the sphere of public training, as well as from the viewpoint of better level of training for safety personnel themselves as the instrument of providing general community personnel with higher level of knowledge on public safety issues. Importance of public safety training for general community personnel First of all, it should be said, that general community personnel is the personnel of various organizations performing in both public and private sector, and the importance of training this personnel is increased at present; moreover, it is direct obligation of the human resource managers of each company to provide either training on the regular basis with assistance of the external public safety specialists, or to hire a public safety instructor (which is affordable only for large organizations). The principal criterion which should be exercised by the HRM of any organization in choosing the instrument of providing company workers with public safety knowledge is competence. It is said that 'competence involves technical knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform tasks at high level of proficiency; as a selection tool, the public safety training process requires thorough understanding of the knowledge, skills, abilities and other behavioral requirements essential in performing a particular job'. (Mankin & Perry, 2003) However, the importance of public safety training and the role of the HRM in it is also seen through the need to inform. Some works on public personnel management (Mankin & Perry, 2003; Perry & Mesch, 1997) relate public safety training and need to inform as the two integral parts of increasing the level of safety knowledge for the personnel. 'The need to inform includes the specific obligation to inform all individuals ad participants regarding the public safety training process, with its accompanying risks, benefits, liabilities and costs. Sharing information about the expected outcomes of the public safety training process, sharing results with other HR professionals and communicating expected time demands also builds good will and increases public safety knowledge'. (Perry & Mesch, 1997) On the one hand, HRM of the company should have clear criterion of choosing public safety instructors who will provide basic public safety knowledge for the workers; on the other hand, HR managers themselves should be aware of the importance of giving their workers the knowledge on the basis, which builds trust and shows commitment to the continuous improvement of methods and instruments of achieving the goals of better safety knowledge. The importance of public safety training is especially urgent in terms of the problem of workplace violence. According to official statistics, 'an average of 20 workers is murdered and 18,000 assaulted in US workplaces each week. Government employees fell victim to 37 percent of workplace violence incidents despite the fact that they made up only 16 percent of the US workforce.' (SHRM, 1999) And even with the existing security concerns, which are made public, employers and employees are still unprepared for the episodes of violence, which usually take place with the participation of the external forces. The importance of public safety training is explained by the high level of costs, which result from the violence at workplace, which is known to be the most serious threat for the employees at present. Not speaking about physical injuries, they turn into the productivity loss and lost profits. The episodes of violence which take place in organizations not only decrease the profitability of the enterprise, but also result in the lower credit of customers as well as worse reputation - for the customers and partners such negative experience means that the enterprise is not secure and does not pay enough attention towards public safety training (which actually appears to be the ineffective performance of the HR managers). However, the growing profusion of the various books, seminars, video programs and general media attention are designed to help HR managers to understand the reasons, causes and consequences of the violence at workplace, and this growing popularity of such training programs attest to the fact that HR managers display higher concern in the problem of violence prevention and public safety training as the means of managing this problem. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has conducted a survey of the problem and the results have shown that 45 percent of the HR managers understand the seriousness of the issue and thus the importance of public safety training. (SHRM, 1999) However, this understanding is still interrupted by the ignorance, which many organizations display at the senior management level; 'ignorance abounds as for who are likely targets, who is perpetrating the violence, and whether or not the organization can do anything to stop it'. (Waters, Lynn & Morgan, 2002) Thus, the importance of public safety training here is in making management understand the seriousness of the existing level of workplace violence and the need to work for the violence prevention, as ultimately the importance of public safety training is the means of keeping the organizational performance at the desirable level without losses; this is why HRM should be aware of this importance and of the statistics of workplace violence in general. For the HR managers the following guidelines can be used to promote public safety training and its importance to the senior management as well as to the common personnel. 'A higher degree of prosecution of those who commit violence against fire personnel is needed. It is too often accepted as part of the job to be threatened, intimidated, or physically abused by those we encounter on runs. The public should know that assaults, threats, etc, on firefighters will be pursued; recognize the potential for workplace violence and develop programs and training to address it.' (Hoobler & Swanberg, 2006) Despite the fact, that HRM and public personnel press pay extra attention to the problem of workplace violence and the importance of public safety training, organizations in general don't display urgent desire to promote the necessary policies for public safety program implementation; the problem of organizational outsiders violence is especially ignored. In the survey, which the SHRM has conducted, only one percent of the respondents identified the problem of workplace violence and the related importance of public safety training as very serious. (SHRM, 1999) Based on these findings, the HR policies for the promotion of public safety programs ar workplaces should concentrate on both the insiders and outsiders as the iniators of the violence episodes. Importance of training for public safety employees The importance of training for those, who work in the sphere of providing this training is also essential. The background of this importance is that public safety officials and employees often become the victims of the workplace violence, and thus HRM working in public safety organizations should address this issue accordingly. The majority of cases described in relation towards violence for the public organizations is connected with the external violence; however, taking into account the increased psychological pressure of those who work in public safety entities, it is presupposed that the incidents of inner violence will also take place. This is why the role of the safety training here is in promoting public personnel policies for decreasing this violence through thorough check of job applicants and tracing violent tendencies among those who currently work in public safety organizations. (Perry & Mesch, 1997) Organizations dealing with the customers, who are incarcerated, or alcohol and drug-addicted, are especially at risk of workplace violence, and the importance of training here is in making the performance of these organizations more effective, releasing them of the need to concentrate extra efforts on the elimination of the negative consequences of the undesired actions of the violent customers, as ultimately these very organizations provide safety for the private sector companies and are designed to give them the necessary training. HR strategies for the promotion of public safety training and violence prevention It has already been noted, that the importance of public safety training is equally high for both private organizations and public entities. HRM plays essential role in not only promoting this training, and assuring the senior management in the necessity to devote additional costs to training personnel reactions and behavioral patterns in the critical situations, but it can also use its own strategies for decreasing the incidence of cases, which threaten safety of the employees. The first strategy deals with teaching the employees to organize their physical environment, which may restrict access of the customers to the closed areas; the HRM should give the employees necessary instructions as for the better lighting of their workplaces as well as carrying less cash and learning how to use monitoring systems in regular environment and emergency situations. (Hoobler & Swanberg, 2006) However, it may seem that such instructions should be given by the public safety officials, as their professional knowledge will allow to organize the working space in the most effective way; but the second strategy to be addressed is completely the role of the HRM, as it directly deals with the training of intrapersonal skills of employees. 'Training should include listening skills and conflict negotiation/avoidance tactics designed to detect and diffuse potentially dangerous encounters. Employees must know both where to report and how to deal with violent and potentially violent situations.' (Waters, Lynn & Morgan, 2002) The third strategy includes teaching employees to deal with the potentially dangerous customers or co-workers, and in this relation the HRM should implement role plays as the best means of exercising and training the staff. At present it appears, that most organizations, with their frontline workers recognizing the seriousness of the problem, either don't want to, or don't know how to deal with the problem of safety at workplace and thus don't understand the importance of public safety training. This is why it becomes clear that the importance of public safety training involves active participation of the HRM in providing and assuring the need to give this training, and it has already been seen through the discussion, the HR personnel can provide certain amount of training for its employees to improve the level of its safety knowledge. Role of HRM in reacting to other safety threats After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the role of HRM in public safety (especially in the private companies) has been totally re-considered. An important question here is in identification of the limits, within which HRM of the company can take emergency decisions; however, the HRM here needs to have a plan for the reaction to the emergency situation; the plan should be communicated to the staff; HRM should also be able to work for the relocation of the operational capabilities of the enterprise. (Mankin & perry, 2003) The importance of HRM in reaction to emergency situations, as well as training, can be explained: as any emergency situation involves human factor, and has to be dealt with, thus the role public personnel management is invaluable. HR managers are not only called to design the strict plan of dealing with the principal issues resulting from the emergency situation (and training in terms of possible terrorist attack is important, because the skills acquired through such training possess multiple applicability against various hazards), but they also have to directly solve personnel problems, among which might be their desire to know the status of their families, if the scope of the emergency situation is large, etc. (Mankin & Perry, 2003) Conclusion Emergency situations (no matter whether it is fire, flood, workplace violence or terrorist attack) always result in the mess, which can be eliminated if the staff has been provided with the proper public safety training with the implementation of the basic HRM strategies. The importance of such training is explained by giving the enterprise the definite plan of actions, if emergency situation takes place and allows to keep its operability to the highest level possible. Public safety training is aimed at balancing its financial costs and possible losses caused by any emergency situation, this is why it is also important for the better organizational performance. However, most of the public and private organizations and companies don't yet realize the importance of this training and don't have any strict policies to deal in case emergency situation takes place. This is why it is also the direct function of the HRM to assure the senior management of the company in the importance of public safety training with developing policies and boundaries of HRM decision-making in the critical situation. References Hoobler, Jenny M., Swanberg, Jennifer. (2006). Enemy is not us: unexpected workplace violence trends. Public Personnel Management. Available at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3779/is_200610/ai_n16855637 (accessed 23 February 2007) Mankin, LD. & Perry, R.W (2003). Terrorism Challenges for Human Resources Management. Tempe, AX: School of Public Affairs, Arixona State University. Mondy, R. Wayne, and Noe, Robert M. (1996). Human Resource Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Perry, J and Mesch, W (1997). Strategic human resource management, p 21-34 in Ban, C. & Riccucci, N. (Eds.) Public Personnel Management: Current Concerns, Future Challenges. NY Longman. Society for Human Resource Management. (1999). 1999 Workplace Violence Survey. Alexandria, VA Waters, J., Lynn, R., & Morgan, K. (2002). "Workplace Violence: Prevention and Intervention, Theory and Practice." In L. Rapp-Paglicci, A. Roberts, & J. Wodarski (Eds.) Handbook of Violence, pp. 378-413. New York: Wiley and Sons. Read More