The Secret Service has published Preventing Targeted Workplace Violence: A U.S. Secret Service Guide to Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management, which aims to help employers implement workplace violence prevention programs based on Secret Service methodology for behavioral threat assessment and management, according to Safety+Health magazine.
The guide highlights the agency’s findings from 50 incidents of mass violence that occurred on the premises of a business or other work location. It also includes the following eight-step prevention framework for employers:
- Commit to employee safety and support.
- Establish behavioral threat assessment and management program policies and procedures.
- Assemble a multidisciplinary behavioral threat assessment and management team.
- Identify and process reports of “concerning behaviors.”
- Gather information to assess risk.
- Develop risk management strategies.
- Promote a safe and supportive organizational climate.
- Provide employee training.
Regarding workplace violence, the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center has found there is no specific demographic profile of an attacker; people who pose a risk of violence do not always make direct threats before an attack but often communicate their intentions to those around them; the behaviors and communications of attackers often elicit concern from the people around them; and planned acts of targeted violence can be averted when bystanders report and intervene.
The guide also reports 47 of the perpetrators (92%) of the 50 attacks experienced “noteworthy life stressors” within five years of the incident, such as financial problems, difficulties in their personal lives and employment-related issues. Additionally, 78% of attackers had a “history of behaviors that elicited concern from others”; 65% had previous criminal charges; and 53% had at least one past instance of domestic violence.
.jpg){kind=logo}
