As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Workplace Violence Program requirements, organizations are reminded to ensure they evaluate their program and plan any necessary modifications to their program based upon how it performed over the past year. But what does that mean? How do we evaluate our program, what things should we consider?
- Make certain that you place all your key program stakeholders at the table when conducting your evaluation. Inclusion of human resources (including employee assistance program personnel), security, occupational health, patient safety, organization operations and other key department leaders is essential to ensure the evaluation represents a 360° evaluation.
- Utilize the core requirements of the standards to assess your first-year performance. For instance, has your organizations conducted a house-wide physical environment assessment to identify opportunities where enhanced safety mechanisms should be implemented? If not completed, why? and how can the organization expedite the completion of both the assessment and the implementation of additional safeguards? Have the results of the assessment been shared with the stakeholders within the organization?
- What is your incident data telling you? Have you compared the incident report details to your environmental risk assessment? Were the areas or circumstances that led to the event identified in your environmental risk assessment or were they missed?
- Have you solidified the process for Leadership to receive security and safety reports and actions taken to prevent future similar events? Has Leadership facilitated the removal of barriers that prevented creating a safer more secure work environment?
- Is your Workplace Violence program supported by policies and procedures? Does your incident report review process include assessing whether compliance with the policies and procedures occurred or were policy and procedure requirements by-passed?
Using these five key categories will form a solid foundation for your one-year evaluation of your program.
Please contact Courtemanche and Associates for questions or assistance in maintaining continuous survey readiness at 704-573-4535 or info@courtemanche-assocs.com.