Hillard Heintze Presentation to ATAP - Part 2

Beyond Awareness
ACTIONS IN THREAT AND VIOLENCE RISK MANAGEMENT
February 2018
ATAP DALLAS/FORT WORTH AND HOUSTON FEBRUARY CHAPTER MEETINGS
PART 2
A Roadmap to Preventing
Workplace Violence

2 HILLARD HEINTZE © 2018 | Protecting What Matters®
AGENDA FOR PART 2
• Protecting the Workplace
• Conducting a Needs Assessment
• Developing the Policy and a Program
• Understanding the Legal Implications
• Establishing a Threat Assessment Team
• Training Key Stakeholders
• Asking the Right Questions

PROTECTING THE WORKPLACE
The costs of failing to address concerning behaviors
• Lost productivity
• Absenteeism
• Higher health care costs
• Increased turnover
• Litigation expenses
• Negligent hiring claims
• Insurance losses
• Sabotage
• Public relations expenses

Benefits of a workplace violence prevention program
• Increased workplace and
employee security
• Higher employee morale
leads to improved levels
of productivity
• Intellectual property protection
• Uninterrupted business
operations
• Stronger enterprise risk
management
• Greater cross-functional
collaboration and information
sharing
• Early identification of red flags –
and opportunities to intervene
• Ability to perform basic threat
assessments in-house
• Lower risks of lawsuits
and settlements
HILLARD HEINTZE © 2018 | Protecting What Matters®4

5 HILLARD HEINTZE © 2017 | Protecting What Matters
Early identification and response to low-level
behaviors of concern is critical to prevention
A culture of safety encourages employees
to report concerns as they emerge – and
not wait until they escalate.

A ROADMAP TO PREVENTING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
Step 1 - Conducting a needs assessment
Evaluate strengths, resources and processes in
Human Resources, Security, Legal, Compliance and
other departments.

Step 2 - Developing the workplace violence prevention
policy and establishing a program
Include clear, actionable guidance on areas ranging from formation of a
cross-functional, multi-disciplinary team to core operational policies, practices,
compliance, privacy, reporting issues and an incident tracking system.

Understanding the legal implications
• The Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• The Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA)
• Duty to Warn – The Tarasoff Case
• State labor laws re: weapons and
mental health commitment
• Laws prohibiting discussion or
discrimination based on knowledge
of domestic violence

Step 3 - Establishing a threat assessment team
The Threat Assessment Team is established to
promptly and effectively address situations
involving violence in the workplace.
Representing Human Resources, Security and
Legal and management, each member of the
TAT has specific responsibilities based on their
area of expertise.

TAT roles and responsibilities
• Gather the facts
• Ensure the workplace remains safe
• Ensuring impartial, fair and objective review
• Determine timely course of action
• Maintain a global perspective.
• Adhere to consistent application of policies
• Review procedures and processes
• Recommend for program improvement

Step 4 - Training key stakeholders
• Develop distinct curriculums for the
different audiences
1. General Workforce
2. Managers and Supervisors
3. Threat Assessment Teams
• Focus on awareness as a vital first line
of defense
• Emphasize reporting protocols

Ongoing training and awareness at all levels within
the organization is necessary to fully establish and
integrate the program into the organization’s culture.
Awareness saves lives.
Education and awareness

Asking the right questions
Thoughtful consideration of the
answers to key questions will
produce a sound foundation for
the Threat Assessment Team’s
response to the overarching
question in an inquiry:
“Does the subject of concern
pose a threat of violence?”

1. What is motivating the
individual to make
the statements or take
the actions that led to
concerns about the
safety of the workplace
and its employees?

2. What has the individual
communicated concerning
his or her intentions,
whether by words or other
disclosures or actions?

3. What interest has the
individual shown in violence
or its justification, violent
perpetrators, weapons or
extremist groups?

4. Has the individual
engaged in planning
and preparation for
violence, such as
approaching a target or
site, breaching security,
or monitoring, harassing
or stalking a target?

5. Does the individual have
known or suspected
current or past history of
a mental disorder or
substance abuse?
Exhibited symptoms of
paranoia, delusional ideas,
hallucinations, extreme
agitation, despondency or
suicidal tendencies?

6. What evidence exists of
serious oppositional or
counterproductive
attitudes or behavior in
the workplace?

7. How does the individual
manifest his or her anger
and how focused is this
anger on other individuals
in the workplace?

8. Has the individual
experienced any serious
personal or financial
stressors such as divorce,
custody disputes, job or
status losses or deaths in
the family? How have they
coped with those events?

9. What is the individual’s
known history of serious
interpersonal conflict,
violence or other
criminal conduct?

10. Is there evidence of any
organizational, supervisor,
or work group problems
that have contributed to,
provoked or exacerbated
the situation, and how do
those problems influence
the individual’s perception
of his or her circumstances?

Matthew Doherty
Senior Vice President, Threat + Violence Risk Management
matthew.doherty@hillardheintze.com
JoAnn Ugolini
Director, Threat + Violence Risk Management
joann.ugolini@hillardheintze.com
Mark Brenzinger, Psy.D.
Vice President, Forensic and Clinical Psychologist,
Threat + Violence Risk Management
mark.brenzinger@hillardheintze.com

Hillard Heintze Presentation to ATAP - Part 2

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