By Heidi Croot
While I was working at small retail chain (alone, no less!), a man wearing a black hoodie and a hat came in and stole the jar that held donations to a local charity. It had been so ingrained in me by the management at the time that the business was the most important thing that I high-tailed it after him. I am not blaming the management completely because that reaction is part of my nature. I ran about two blocks until I realized that it was an unsafe situation. Can you imagine a 16-year-old running after a full-grown man through the side streets of Niagara-on-the-Lake?”
—Joelle Barfoot, young worker
What might have prevented this scenario from playing out the way it did?
With the perspective of hindsight, Joelle knows the answer to that question. She implies in her story that if she’d known something different (i.e. that the business was in fact not the most important thing), and if she’d been someone different (i.e. better prepared to evaluate the circumstances before reacting), she would have recognized an unsafe situation when there was still time to make a choice that would secure her safety.
The moment of crisis is when everything you know, or don’t know, and everything you are, or aren’t yet, coalesces into a judgment call. If you share life with a teenager, you’ll get this right away. Parents and guardians alike strive to stop adolescents from trying drugs or having unprotected sex. Like young workers in high-risk workplaces, the best you can do is prepare them so they’re equipped to be advocates for their own safety and well-being in that moment of crisis when uninformed, basic instincts might otherwise take over.
Basic Instincts
Testosterone-filled tough-guy movies, video games touting violence, and a good old-fashioned fear of losing their job or of looking weak or foolish: these are just some of the factors promoting a self-image among teenagers of heroism and invincibility. How can supervisors convince young, spirited employees to exercise good judgment in that moment of crisis, to choose de-escalation over confrontation, to let the criminal walk away, and to value personal safety over heroism and ego?
There is no easy answer, as evidenced by a Statistics Canada February 2007 study, which reported that one in five violent incidents occurred in the victim’s workplace.
An effective way to improve violence prevention programs for the workplace is to apply a criterion of “no surprises.” Surprise, after all, is what causes basic instincts to run amok. Here are five ways to anticipate potential violent situations and help young workers prepare for them.
Unfortunately a lot of teenagers do want to be heroes.—Katie Suelzle, young worker
Security measures: Dozens of preventive measures, from the obvious to the creative, can help to discourage surprise attacks. Consider:
• Trimming the shrubbery;
• Taking the garbage out before dark;
• Installing security cameras;
• Closing early;
• Keeping the facility well lit;
• Instituting a buddy system; and
• Inviting police to do a safety seminar.
Some of your best ideas will come from staff. Listen when they tell you what makes them feel uneasy on the job.
Rambo need not apply: Recruit individuals who have a strong locus of control; can discuss potential crises easily and without fear or defensiveness; have a healthy self-esteem and confidence; are clear-headed and rational decision-makers; and can manage stress within themselves and in others.
Orientation: Integrate your health and safety messages into your orientation session, whether it’s for full-time, part-time or seasonal staff. Be impassioned about your beliefs, be specific about your expectations, and be a role model for how you want things done.
What comes naturally, as we’ve already seen, can be a rush of emotion that crowds out other, more appropriate reactions. You won’t be able to eliminate emotion, however, so why not prepare staff for the natural reactions that everyone experiences in a crisis. That way they’ll spend less time in the moment being surprised and distracted by them.
Who’s Most at Risk in the Service Sector?
Certain factors such as working with the public, providing services, serving alcohol, or working alone, all put these people at increased risk:
• Hotel staff who clean bedrooms
• Fast-food servers
• Convenience store clerks
• Office workers who work late
• Gas station attendants
• Restaurant staff who close up at night
• Staff who handle cash
I think that the best way for an employer to prepare a young employee for a crisis is to address the fact that it may actually happen. So few employers prepare their staff for a theft that the staff member simply does what comes naturally. —Joelle Barfoot, young worker
FRONTLINE
Fight-or-flight syndrome: It’s sure to kick in, complete with elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, trembling, muscle tension, sweating, stomach butterflies, dry mouth, and more. Address the benefits of fight-or- flight—adrenalin surge leading to sharpened senses, etc.—at the same time as you teach employees how to control its negative side-effects by breathing deeply and consciously relaxing muscles.
The face of aggression: Prepare staff for what they might see and hear. Describe what aggression looks like: standing tall, red face, raised voice, rapid breathing, direct and prolonged eye contact, exaggerated gestures.
De-escalation: Teach staff how to de-escalate the situation by projecting confidence and calmness, speaking slowly and clearly, not staring or arguing, listening carefully and respectfully, and acknowledging the aggressor’s concerns without patronizing. Teach them to manage surprises for the criminal, too, by giving advance warning of their own or their coworkers’ movements.
Know your environment inside and out. Anticipate surprises by scanning the risks unique to your workplace and community, and address them in your workplace violence program.
• What kind of people live and work in the neighbourhood?
• What kind of young workers do you hire; e.g. do you need strategies for youth whose iPods make them deaf to danger?
• What kind of customers do you serve?
• What processes are performed alone?
• What risks have staff themselves identified?
At (fast-food chain), employees are sat down for an orientation before training begins and told that if faced with a situation, they should just do as the person asks. Give them the money, whatever, but don’t, do not, try to be a hero. The company prefers the employee to be safe than to lose a thousand dollars or two.” —Andrew Suelzle, young Worker
Telling vs. doing: Sharing your expectations with employees during orientation and training is important, but there’s no substitute for storytelling and role-playing.
Talk about stories in the news: the grocery store clerk who followed a shoplifter outside and was struck by the car door as the criminal sped off with the stolen goods, for
example, or the employee of a large national retailer who approached a man who was stealing baby food and was punched in the mouth for his trouble. Ask staff to describe a potentially violent scene and how they would react. Do a little roleplaying. Discuss potential scenarios to mitigate surprise in any way you can.
Common sense and a proper set of priorities are the two things that I think would enable me to handle a difficult and possibly violent situation properly. Teen employees need to be told, before committing a possibly reckless act of attempted heroism, that although their job is important, it is not as important as their well-being. —Daniel Morel, young Worker
Safety first: Employees want to make the boss happy, so praise them for following the process in a crisis, and provide additional training when they don’t. Point out that heroism in a crisis is all about paying attention to details so they can be reported to police. And after the incident, be consistent. “ Why didn’t you stop him?” is the kind of negative response that can torpedo the best workplace violence program, and decimate workplace culture.
Designing a best-practices, workplace violence prevention policy that fits the reality of your firm and your community is the single most important demonstration of commitment to staff well-being that an executive leader can make. Your program needs to anticipate and minimize surprises, and support appropriate responses from your staff that makes personal safety both the priority and the reward.
In response to a special directive, newly trained Ministry of Labour inspectors are writing orders related to violence prevention programs—particularly in workplaces where the risk of violence is higher because of the nature of the work. They are looking for evidence that employers have:
a) Properly assessed the risk;
b) Implemented appropriate prevention strategies and training; and
c) Addressed workplace violence incidents.
Where to Go for Help
Resources abound. Here are three:
a) OSSA’s 2.5-hour, interactive awareness module is designed to help staff who deal with two key risk factors: working alone and handling cash. Also, OSSA’s resource guide called “Interaction Preventing Work-related Aggression and Violence” includes a nine-step process on how to respond to a robbery.
b) The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (www.ccohs.ca) has posted extensive Q&As, checklists, examples, and guidelines.
c) Google “Working Alone Safely” to find Alberta’s best practices document on this important risk factor.
Numbers Don’t Lie
According to the results of a Statistics Canada study released in February 2007:
• 365,000 violent incidents occurred in Canadian workplaces in 2004.
• 71 per cent were physical assaults and 78 per cent verbal threats.
• 16 per cent of robberies were at convenience stores and gas stations.
• Canada ranks fourth in the world for workplace aggression.
Are you a Young Worker? Just starting out on the job? Visit www.youngworker.ca.
Excerpted from Safety Mosaic, Volume 10, No. 1, Spring 2007
You can consult your industry/sector professional association for input and advice when purchasing equipment and supplies.
