Keep Your Employees Safe!

According to OSHA, nearly 2 million American workers experience some form of workplace violence each year.

The American National Standard (ANSI) "Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention" (ASIS/ANSI WVPI.1-2011) document defines workplace violence as spectrum of behaviors, including overt acts of violence, threats and other conduct that generates a reasonable concern for safety from violence, where a nexus exists between the behavior and the physical safety of employees and others (such as customers, clients and business associates), on-site or off-site, during activities related to the organization.

Based on the Securitas 2016 Top Security Threats and Management Issues Facing Corporate America survey, Workplace Violence Prevention/Response and Active Shooter Threats are the two top corporate concerns for employee safety.

Did you know?

• Worker on Worker violence is based on some sort of real or perceived workplace injustice that builds and builds until finally there's an eruption
• Intimate Partner violence is non-surgical, highly emotional and produces a lot of innocent bystander injuries and is the leading cause of workplace death for women
• Ideological violence is the intersection of terrorism and workplace violence. This can be anything from Planned Parenthood (I'm a warrior for the babies), animal rights activist, environmentalist or other people with "an axe to grind" - Ideological violence is not just jihadist or other forms of highly publicized terrorism

Employee Participation

A big part of security is promoting employee awareness, which has ranked second as a management issue in the 2012, 2014, and 2016 studies. Most organizations will need to change the mindset of executives and employees from the belief that the security team is more than a bunch of security guards checking locked doors and patrolling the campus to an understanding that these very people are there to protect them. How do you do this? By leveraging "Self Interest!"

In his hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow lists "security and safety" before "belongingness and love." We are naturally programmed to protect ourselves. If employees understand that the security culture exists to protect them and their jobs and they are included in the security process they are more likely to participate.

What Happens When Bad Things Happen

When you become aware of a threat, how do you notify your staff? How does your staff notify you? How you get notified can be as important as being notified. When an employee or customer gets angry, frantic calls to security can antagonize the angry person and lead to more catastrophic outcomes. Discretion, on the other hand, can allow employees to report issues to, and security to respond before a perpetrator knows they've been reported.

TapToReport brings a new and exciting tool to corporate security by enabling each and every employee to be the real-time eyes and ears of security and to take part in their own safety.

With some basic training employees can discreetly report a myriad of safety and security issues such as:

• The simple spilled drink creating a slip and fall (risk and liability) situation
• Intruders who may be there to harm people or corporate assets
• The angry co-worker
• The employee or guest that falls and needs medical attention.

With it's built in audit trail you not only have an amazing employee danger and hazard reporting tool, you have a legal risk and liability mitigation tool that can substantially reduce payments resulting from lawsuits. TapToReport is easy to implement, cost effective and will prove to be one of the most valuable tools in your security arsenal. Sign up for your free trail today and explore the power of TapToReport.