Do your workers feel safe at work?
Do you feel safe at work? It’s a question CareerBuilder.ca asked hundreds of employees across Canada recently.
And while the vast majority of employees — 95 per cent — reported they feel their workplace is safe, only 62 per cent said they would know how to protect themselves if there was an emergency in their workplace that posed a physical threat.
"Workplace emergencies are often something people do not think about until something has already happened, unfortunately," said Mary Lorenz, corporate communications manager for CareerBuilder. "It’s important for employers to be aware of the concerns their employees have in order to ensure a comfortable, safe work environment."
Only 52 per cent of employees agreed their workplace is well-protected from a physical threat from another person, found the survey of more than 500 workers.
The majority of employees said they felt their workplace was well-protected in case of a fire, flood or other disaster (64 per cent) while 67 per cent reported their workplace is well-protected from weather-related threats.
These concerns about physical threats from another person are common, said personal safety expert David Nance.
"It’s one of the forms of safety that people are most concerned about in the workplace," he said.
One of the most effective methods for addressing these concerns, according to Nance, is to ensure a zero-tolerance policy is in place. This should apply to employees, vendors, visitors and any other individuals who may interact with workers.
The policy should include precise and concrete language as well as examples of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. All employees should be encouraged to report any incidents of threats, be they written, verbal or physical. The policy should also include protections for those making reports, including the option of confidentiality.
Creating and strictly implementing such a policy will go a long way to preventing violent incidents in the workplace, said Nance. Employees who are encouraged to report any alarming incidents are more likely to be observant and aware, and observant employees are likely to see the warning signs that precede a violent incident.
"Typically, there’s odd, peculiar behaviour that happens in advance," he said. "Those sorts of things should be noted and those things should be reported to supervisors."
Implementing and enforcing the proper policies and procedures is the best way to protect employees, said Adrian Miedema, partner in the Toronto employment group of Dentons Canada.
In Ontario, for example, employers are required to have a workplace violence and workplace harassment policy. That policy must be posted in the workplace and communicated to employees.
The creation of that policy, he said, involves a workplace violence risk assessment.
Any and all risks faced by employees must be identified by the risk assessment and addressed by the workplace violence and workplace harassment policies.
"The employer has the obligation to make sure it’s identified the risks and put a plan in place to mitigate those risks and protect employees," he said. "Presumably, (this) would give employees a little bit more comfort in that they know how to react to an incident of workplace violence."
Communication is the key to a successful safety program or policy in the workplace, said Lorenz.
"This means not only soliciting feedback from employees around any concerns that they have in regards to safety, but also creating and implementing policies and procedures that all employees are aware of and well-practiced in," she said.
"It is of the utmost importance to communicate these plans and policies with employees on a regular basis, and have employees participate in regular practice drills."
To further prepare employees for incidents of violence in the workplace, Nance suggested bringing in local law enforcement or a personal safety expert to provide additional training.
"The better prepared employees are in case of an emergency, the safer they will be and feel."
