Dealing with Disruptive Situations

1
Dealing with Disruptive Situations

• Violent incidents are relatively rare, but they
  do occur, and lives can be lost.
• Everyone experiences stress, loss, or illness at
  some point in life. All but a few people weather
  these storms without resorting to violence.
• Ignoring the situation usually results in an
  escalation of the problem.

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Dealing with Disruptive Situations

• Morale and productivity are lowered effective
  employees may leave the organization.
• Dealing effectively with situations like
  hostility, intimidation, and disruptive types of
  conflict creates a more productive workplace.
• Employees will see that there are consequences
  for their actions and that disruptive behavior is
  not tolerated.

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PreventionReduce the risk of violent behavior

• Identify potentially violent individuals
• Look for early warning signs, and profiles of
  potentially violent employees .
• However, no one can predict human behavior and
  there is no specific profile of a potentially
  dangerous individual
• Indicators of increased risk of violent behavior
  are available

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Indicators

• Direct or veiled threats of harm
• Intimidating, belligerent, harassing, bullying,
  or other inappropriate and aggressive behavior.
• Numerous conflicts with supervisors and other
  employees
• Bringing a weapon to the workplace, brandishing a
  weapon, making inappropriate references to guns,
  or fascination with weapons
• .

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Indicators

• Statements showing fascination with incidents of
  workplace violence, statements indicating
  approval of the use of violence to resolve a
  problem, or statements indicating identification
  with perpetrators of workplace homicides.
• Statements indicating desperation (over family,
  financial, and other personal problems) to the
  point of contemplating suicide.
• Drug/alcohol abuse
• Extreme change in behaviors.

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• By identifying the problem and de4aling with it
  appropriately, managers may be able to prevent
  violence from happening.
• Some behaviors require immediat4e police
  involvement.
• Others constitute actionable misconduct and
  require disciplinary action.
• Some indicate an immediate need for an Employee
  Assistance Program referral.

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Threat Assessment

• Threatened employees want to know what the
  College is doing to protect them and what
  measures they should take to protect themselves.
• Since it is impossible to know whether a threat
  is going to be carried out, the College will
  always treat threats in a serious manner.

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• Handled expeditiously and effectively by
  supervisor working with HR, and/or the EAP and
  police.
• Management takes all threats seriously.

9
Threats

• Individuals utter threats for many reasons, only
  some of which involve intention or capacity to
  commit a violent act.
• At times, a person can present a grave threat
  without articulating it.
• The distinction between making and posing a
  threat is important.

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Threat Assessment

• Violent acts are often the culmination of
  long-developing, identifiable trails of problems,
  conflicts, disputes, and failures.

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• Violence is the product of an interaction among
  three factors
• The individual who takes violent action
• stimulus or triggering conditions that lead the
  subject to see violence as an option way out or
  solution to problems or life situations.
• A setting that facilitates or permits the
  violence, or at least does not stop it from
  occurring.

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• Key is identification of subjects attack
  related behavior.
• Perpetrators behaviors linked or precede attacks
  they consider, plan, and prepare.
• Situations are successfully managed with help
  from outside agencies, e.g.social service, mental
  health agencies, EAP.

13
Information About the Target

• Are potential targets identifiable?
• Is the potential target well known to the
  subject?
• Is the target afraid of the subject?
• How sophisticated or naïve is the targeted
  individual about the need for caution?
• How well can the subject communicate a clear and
  consistent I want no contact with you?

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• Evaluate information for evidence of conditions
  and behaviors that would be consistent with an
  attack.
• Determine if the subject is moving toward or away
  from the attack.
• Once it is determined that the subject presents a
  risk, a plan will be developed to manage the
  risk.
• Notify the supervisor and HR, they will identify
  internal and external systems that will aid in
  managing the situation.

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• Having an understanding of issues that come into
  play in violent and potentially violent
  situations is important to aid in determining
• Whether outside resources will be needed in
  certain situations
• Ensuring that appropriate disciplinary actions
  are taken.

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• In situations where a disruptions has occurred on
  the job, or where there is a belief that the
  potential for violence exists, a supervisor may
  need to keep an employee away from the worksite
  to ensure the safety of employees while
  investigating and deciding on a course of action.
• In this situation contact HR , they can place an
  employee on administrative leave.

17
Telephone Threats

• Keep calm. Keep talking
• Dont hang up.
• Signal a coworker to assist
• Ask caller to repeat message and write it down
• Repeat questions, if necessary

18
Telephone Threats

• For a bomb threat ask where the bomb is and when
  it is set to go off.
• Listen for background noises and write down a
  description
• Write if the caller is male or female pitch of
  voice accent, etc.
• Try to get the persons name, exact location
  telephone number.
• Notify your supervisor.