Security and Safety Measures for the Building and Staff

Security and Safety Measures for the Building and Staff
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There are a number of factors that a company or an entrepreneur ought to critically think about before settling on starting an extension of a business or even starting an entirely new business in a particular area. These are factors that determine the performance and growth of the company. Among these factors, security is one of the crucial ones. Security in this context includes the security of the business premises, which is the building and all its offices as well as the safety of the persons expected to come into contact with the building; both the customers and the staff. This is because a secure and crime free working environment will lead to both the staff and the customers feeling comfortable while in the workplace. This in turn will result in the better performance of the staff as well as a welcoming environment for the customers hence affecting the business positively (U.S Department of Labour, n.d.). Matters concerning the field of security can however be confusing at times to small companies trying to break ground in new areas. This is the case especially when evaluating on whether to contract security staff or employ their security staff. Using the example of a consulting company that deals with the offering of consulting services, we will look at what to consider before deciding on whether to contract or hire security staff as well as the security arrangements for a safe and secure workplace environment.
To begin with, the security of employees of a business is very crucial to its performance and is, therefore, one of those subjects to take keen interest on, when dealing with. Here the business has to look into matters such as workplace violence. According to the Health and Safety Executive (1996), workplace violence is any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. In order for a company to adequately provide security for its staff, it has to have policies on this subject, as well as be able to implement them. This is because it is the responsibility of an employer to identify and manage the risk of workplace violence according (Health and Safety Executive [HSF], n.d.). However, for a business to be able to prevent workplace violence, it has to be able to understand the different kinds and types of such violence that its staff are at a high risk of experiencing. This is because there are different types of workplace violence. In addition, the employers should also, be able to understand the risks involved in the kind of business they are operating. This is because different kinds of business are faced with different kind of workplace violence. For instance, the kind of workplace violence that staff in a convenience store are at a risk of experiencing is likely to be different to that which the workers in a factory are likely to experience.
First, it is important to identify the kind of workplace violence that is likely to occur in your business, this is known as a hazard. The next thing is to rank this hazards according to the likelihood of it taking place in your company. This is what is known as a risk assessment. In order to conduct an effective risk assessment the one has to identify the hazards, evaluate their risk of harm and implement measures to eliminate or control them (Public Services Health & Safety Association, n.d.). In a consulting company for instance, the types of workplace violence that are likely to occur are those linking employee involved with a co-worker and an employee involved with a client. Workplace violence that involve an employee with a co-worker is likely to occur in such a company, "whereby there is a large number of the employee population who are likely working closely together under stressful conditions" (Grayson, 2010). This is the same kind of situation that is likely to be found in a consulting company. On the other side, workplace violence that involves an employee, and a client is likely to occur in organizations whereby the employees deal with large numbers of clients. Of all the types of workplace violence, these two that affect an employee and a client or a co-worker are the two that are most likely to occur in a consulting company. This is not to say that the rest cannot take place in such an environment but that their chances of occurring are less compared to the two. The chances of workplace violence involving an employee and a criminal outsider are not likely to take place in a consulting company. This is because this type of violence is majorly connected to business that deal with money or where there is availability of cash or high valued items and direct public interaction.
In formulating programs and strategies to prevent the employee involved with a co-worker type of workplace violence, the following can be considered for a consulting company.
Evaluating Prospective Workers
In this strategy of preventing employee-co-worker workplace violence, the preventive process begins right from the beginning. That is; the company should make sure that job applicants undergo some evaluation whereby their past cases or incidents of such violence can be used in evaluating their likelihood of being violent in the workplace. Background checking combined with reference verification can help determine the kind of an employee the employer is about to hire, hence help in planning and preventing incidents of workplace violence.
Training in Policies/Reporting
One of the most widely applied prevention strategies of employee- co-worker violence is the provision a right to make formal complaints or notification of such incidents of violence to the relevant authorities once they take place. This is what is known as reporting. Here, the victim should be enabled to report all kinds of prohibited behaviors that may have taken place against her or him. It is, therefore, crucial for such a company to make provision of training to all its new employees on workplace violence, as well as its policies on this matter and the procedures. Refresher trainings should also, be employed touching the same issues.
Focus on Observable Behaviors
Persons involved with this kind of workplace violence will always be current or former employees of the company. For this reason, they are viewed as persons with at least adequate knowledge of the co-workers and the environment of the business including its security and the measures used by the business to prevent such violence. It is, therefore, important for a business to have a culture of observing and reporting changes in its employees’ behavior that become a concern. An effective prevention program should, therefore, have in place the "procedures for reporting and dealing or handling of such changes in behavior that could lead to workplace violence" (Maryland, 2006). This can be made even more efficient if such matters are handled on time and consistently.
On the other side, the strategies that can be used to prevent employee-client workplace type of violence can differ in some ways from the above mentioned. This is as a result of the parties involved changing in this case, and instead an outsider being introduced. The following are strategies that can be used to prevent employee-client type of workplace violence;
Training
Above the usual training that a company should have for its employees on its policies and all other matters concerning workplace violence, it is equally important for such a business to have training for its employees specifically meant to educate them on this type of violence. This can be a training in which an employee is trained on how to identify behavioral cues that act like signs to the occurrence of such violence, techniques that can be used to de-escalate violence among others. By this doing, an organization best equips its employees with the ability to handle such an incident in a better manner in the event that it takes place, as well as enabling it avoid even the occurrence of such incidents.
Adequate Staffing, Skill Mix
On this strategy, the idea is to ensure that a business or organization has a sufficient number of employees, as well as making sure that there is a mixture of all the essential types of skills so as to serve their clients or customer needs best. By this doing, the company can evade having unsatisfied and frustrated customers who are as a result of inadequate and ineffective services and who can at times result to such violen...