Hospital and health care staff are four times more likely to be victims of assault than private sector workers.

 

Violent intruders may originate from the public, patients, grudges, ill relatives, escape attempts, current employees, former employees or domestic violence incidents that spill over into the workplace.

 

If confronted by a violent intruder, do your staff know what to do? Have you been proactive in preventing incidents and reducing the harm a violent intruder could do?

 

The General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1), of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), requires employers to provide their employees with a place of employment that “is free from recognizable hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees.”  The courts have interpreted OSHA’s General Duty Clause to mean that an employer has a legal obligation to provide a workplace free of conditions or activities that either the employer or industry recognizes as hazardous and that cause, or are likely to cause, death or serious physical harm to employees when there is a feasible method to abate the hazard.

 

An employer that has experienced acts of workplace violence, or becomes aware of threats, intimidation or other indicators showing that the potential for violence in the workplace exists, would be on notice of the risk of workplace violence and should implement a workplace violence prevention program combined with engineering controls, administrative controls and training.

 

Our job is to prepare you, your staff and health care facility to identify any vulnerability you may have and to meet the challenge of violent intruders/active shooters.

 

We want you to recognize and reduce the threat if possible and should the worst happen, to have a range of choices available to reduce your chances of being injured and increase your chances of survival.

 

National VIPS trains participants to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from iiolent intruder Incidents.  Participants will learn:

 

• How to identify risk factors for workplace violence.

• How to recognize behavioral warning signs of violence in individuals.

• How to create a customized hospital/healthcare facility violence prevention and response program.

• How to take immediate action to reduce injuries and to reduce the risk of fatalities by employing choices taught in the course.

• How to alert staff and others and how to give them second by second instructions that may save their lives.

• How local law enforcement will respond and how to not be a problem for them.

• How to reduce prevalence of emotional trauma through referrals to the appropriate professionals.

 

Employers should be prepare for any potential liability risks by providing their employees with active shooter/violent intruder preparedness training.

 

Questions?  How can we help your healthcare facility prepare?