Handling a Violent Incident

April 13, 2006

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If a violent incident occurs in your workplace, you'll have to act quickly and calmly. You'll have to make immediate decisions; help victims, family, and other employees; and, possibly, deal with the press. You'll have to respond to and manage the incident safely and effectively; protect the physical safety and emotional well-being of victims, employees, and other persons; prevent or minimize injury, damage and disruption; and return to normal as soon as possible. This can go smoothly only if it is planned in detail well in advance.

The first thing to do is summon help from the authorities. After that, assist the "survivors" and return the workplace to normal.

How can all this be managed? You must provide leadership for planning and preparation, both during the emergency and for recovery efforts.

Handling the press. If the incident involves a fatality or is otherwise unusual in your area, you will most likely be contacted by the press. You must be prepared to handle their inquiries and provide accurate information.

It's a good idea to think about how you would handle the press in such a situation. To be prepared, the plan should include:

Keeping accurate information (including company history, number of employees, business purpose, names of key management people) about the organization readily available. Some businesses maintain a file cabinet with this information.
Naming a company spokesperson and possibly a backup person. The spokesperson will need accurate information about the event.
In general, answering questions briefly, not avoiding questions, and staying "on the record;" that is, only giving information that you'd feel comfortable reading in the paper the next day.
Never lying to the press.

Aftermath. There are two difficult tasks to manage in the aftermath of a violent incident. The first is to assist survivors and the next is to return to business as usual as quickly as possible. You need to be concerned about more than just any injured employees — the group includes coworkers, family, and friends. Each of these people will need support.

You might want to consider loosening up time-off policies so that people who need time to recover can take extra hours or days off when they do not have any time available.

Some states (Colorado and Tennessee, for example) have enacted laws that allow employers to seek restraining orders and/or injunctions prohibiting violent acts or threats of violent acts for the protection of their employees. If the situation warrants it, check your state laws to learn whether this protection is available.