When I worked for the American Red Cross here in the Seattle area, I was referred to Felix Nater to discuss Workplace Violence prevention, measures and training for our offices. Mr. Nater has extensive experience in helping organizations enhance their workplace safety and security measures.
Today, Mr. Nater posted the following article which highlights the importance of creating a plan, yet more importantly creating the plan to practice the plan. Furthermore, he goes on to indicate that if you have plans in place that are counter intuitive to the workplace violence plans, such as a "No Tolerance" policy, staff may not properly report suspicious activity or behavior of co-workers, which simply won't work. We encourage you to read the article.
At HT2, we couldn't agree more with the importance of practicing. If you have ever read the book titled The Unthinkable written by Amanda Ripley, you would likely agree. As she highlights study after study revealing the psychology behind our behavior when faced with an unthinkable event. In general, when you practice repeatedly you create muscle memory and lessen the need to rely upon cognitive rational responses. Which is why are kids and military are so good at responding to events.
This week's tip, is to develop a drill and practice your preparedness plans. Do a fire evacuation drill at home, talk to your safety committee or facilities group to schedule a drill at work, do a drill of how quickly you could gather your "to go kit" in the event that you needed to evacuate the area and/or conduct an earthquake drill. Get creative and have fun.
To learn more about preparedness measures or to schedule a presentation, safety walk, tabletop exercise or general consultation with HT2, please Click Here!