Threat Assessment in the Workplace: Minimizing the Risk of Violence

What happens when there is a threat of violence at work?  Hopefully you  are prepared to do a threat assessment in the workplace.    

This is a concept that our American neighbours might be more familiar with; however Canadians are not immune.  Furthermore, we practice and  are prepared for the possibility of a fire, why not violence as well?    

There are a number of steps and training involved in conducting threat assessments.  One of the first is to establish a team and process so  that subjective judgments like "Oh I know that person.  They wouldn't do that"  do not drive your response.  Do you really know what someone  would do under extreme stress?  

I talk with Denise Koster of Koster Consulting and Associates about  this.  She has been trained to do threat assessments and shares some of  her knowledge with us.  Here of some of the resources she shares as well:

• Koster Consulting & Associates: kosterconsultingassociates.com/home 
• MOSAIC: mosaicmethod.com 
• Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals: catap.ca 
• Association of Threat Assessment Professionals: atapworldwide.org 
• Advanced Threat Assessment Academy: training.gdba.com