Column from DMEC: Practical Tips for Creating a Violence Prevention Program

By Daniel N. Jolivet, PhD, Workplace Possibilities Practice Consultant, Absence and Disability Services; Kerri Wizner, MPH, CPH, Head of Epidemiology, MDGuidelines; and W. Shane Journeay, PhD, MPH, MD, FRCPC, FACOEM, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation & Occupational Medicine, JD Irving Endowed Chair in Occupational Medicine at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick

Full article here: Practical Tips for Creating a Violence Prevention Program – DMEC

Publication date: January 2026

Recognizing the prevalence of workplace violence should prompt employers to develop policies and prevention programs to help prevent and mitigate these situations from occurring. The National Safety Council reported that 57,610 nonfatal cases of workplace violence occurred in the U.S. between 2021 and 2022 along with 458 cases of fatal workplace violence in 2023. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimated in 2023 that workplace violence, defined as incidents where employees are abused, threatened, harassed or assaulted in circumstances related to their employment, cost $120 billion.¹

Research indicates that workplace violence prevention programs have a positive effect on employers by reducing the number of violent incidents, security-related costs, and workers’ compensation and liability premiums. And there are downstream effects, including reduced operational disruptions, improved customer experiences, increased employee morale and retention, and the avoidance of negative reputational impacts. Altogether, these data support a positive return on investment (ROI) for employers that implement a workplace violence prevention program. In fact, one estimate suggested a 400% ROI in the first year of the program alone.²

Violence prevention programs should be compliant with the Workplace Violence Program developed by the U.S. Department of Labor³ and the aspects of the General Duty Clause⁴ applicable to violence prevention from OSHA.

To be effective, workplace violence prevention programs must be designed to address the specific issues faced by each employer. Below are several basic steps that are common across virtually all these programs:

• -Complete a discovery process and analysis involving staff members across the organization to identify the types and frequency of violent acts in the workplace. This will help your team recognize trends and determine root causes.
• -Develop and implement violence prevention policies aligned with the information from the initial analysis, including nonretaliation clauses to protect employees who report violent acts in good faith.
• -Implement emergency action plans to immediately address violent incidents.
• -Establish clear reporting procedures for all types of workplace violence and set expectations for all staff members to report any violence they experience or witness.
• -Require employees to complete violence awareness training, including a review and explicit acknowledgement of related policies and action plans.
• -Require staff members who are in high-risk positions or may be called on during violent situations to complete training that helps them identify warning signs of potential violence and strategies for conflict resolution, violence de-escalation and self-defense.
• -Complete post-event analyses following violent incidents to pinpoint system failures and determine if additional violence prevention measures are needed.
• -Complete regular risk assessments to assess the impact of the program, particularly in terms of decreasing violent incidents.

References

1. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. July 9, 2024. Retrieved from https://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2024/07/09/oemed-2024-109437.full
2. Power of Preparedness (March 19, 2025). A Clear Business Case and ROI Projection for Workplace Violence Prevention Training, https://thepowerofpreparedness.com/2025/03/19/a-clear-business-case-and-roi-projection-for-workplace-violence-prevention-training/
3. Department of Labor. Workplace Violence Program. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/centers-offices/human-resources-center/policies/workplace-violence-program
4. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Workplace Violence. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/workplace-violence/enforcement