Resources and Policies for Preventing and Dealing with Violence

Why not a zero tolerance approach?

Workplace violence is recognized as a serious issue affecting all countries and every occupation; it has been portrayed as global and pandemic (Di Martino, 2008, p.59)

In recognition of this problem “The First International Conference on Workplace Violence in the Health Sector: Together creating a safe environment” was held in Amsterdam in 2008. The conference drew participants from an enormous range of countries whose experiences, responses and concerns were remarkably similar.

One of the most commonly identified strategies, specifically in health sector workplaces, has been the adoption of a Zero Tolerance for Violence policy. This approach alerts members of the public that violence against staff will not be tolerated in any form.

One of the most consistent findings reported at this conference was that the Zero Tolerance for Violence policy does not work.

Reasons:

• Violence can be defined as anyone who becomes upset, loud, mildly annoyed – regardless of whether that response is justified or not.
• Health care workers are reluctant to label anyone as violent knowing it is unclear how or when that label can be removed.
• There is a general feeling that attempts to report incidents will not result in administrative follow-through.
• Education on the topic is often wildly mismatched to the realities of the situations.

In purely economic terms, the global cost of workplace violence is enormous. As well, the costs in terms of emotional well-being and job satisfaction are incalculable.

So what should we do?

Prevention is the key and it must be supported by appropriate training and intervention strategies. Authors were clear that the complexities of most workplace violence situations remained unexplored in favour of the quick fix solutions such as a zero tolerance policy (Carroll, 2008; Paterson, Leadbetter, Miller, & Bowie, 2008; McKenna, K. 2008; McWaddington, 2008).

Proceedings of The First International Conference on Workplace Violence in the Health Sector: Together creating a safe environment. Amsterdam, 2008:

Carroll, V. Violence against nurses, pp. 61-65.

Di Martino, V. Violence at work – a general overview, pp. 59-60.

Paterson, B., Leadbetter, D., Miller, G. & Bowie, V. Reframing the problem of workplace violence directed towards nurses in mental health services in the UK: A work in progress?, pp. 294-295.

McKenna, K. “Balancing Safety and Service” Employing best practice methodologies in developing a cohesive organizational response to work related aggression and violence, pp. 294-295.

Waddington, P.A.J The management and non-management of workplace violence in the health care environment, pp. 299-302.