Protecting Nonprofit Workers: Addressing the Risks of Workplace Violence

While nonprofit organizations strive to serve society, they are not exempt from the threat of workplace violence. Whether stemming from external individuals or conflicts between employees, the risk of violence poses a significant safety and health concern – even within mission-driven environments.

Identifying Your Risk

Although risk in nonprofit organizations depends greatly on the type of activity being performed and cannot be easily generalized, characteristics of some activities in many nonprofit and faith-based entities are particularly risky:

• Employees may be required to enter into high-crime areas
• Employees are sometimes exposed to sometimes violent, mentally unstable individuals
• Employees’ work may be socially controversial, subject to potentially violent protest
• Working long hours with high incidence of burnout increases stress

Whether it stems from work-related disputes, domestic abuse or other personal issues, violence can occur inside or outside the workplace and can range from threats or verbal abuse to physical assaults and homicide. Tempers can flare and escalate to violent behavior at any time. Violence can generally be divided into three categories:

• Pure criminal intent
• Client incidents, in which a client acts out violently toward an employee
• Worker to worker incidents stemming from work-related disputes, often involving managers or supervisors

Staying Safe

At , we’ve taken steps to keep you safe on the job. As we emphasize in our Workplace Violence Prevention Program, we do not tolerate threats, bullying, harassment or any other form of violence. However, keeping our workplace as safe as possible requires the commitment of all employees, including you.

Although nothing can guarantee that you will never be a victim of workplace violence, many incidents are preventable. Contribute to the safety measures and other efforts that we have in place by following these guidelines:

• Be aware of and report threatening behavior, and be alert for other signs of aggression or violent behavior.
• Take all threats seriously, without exception.
• Follow procedures established by our Workplace Violence Prevention Program, including those for reporting incidents.
• Learn how to recognize, avoid or diffuse potentially violent situations by attending personal safety training programs.
• Alert supervisors to any concerns about safety or security, and report all incidents immediately in writing.
• Avoid traveling alone to unfamiliar locations whenever possible.

Help us Keep You Safe

Always stay alert and aware of any potentially dangerous behavior. Make sure that you are effectively trained in conflict resolution and methods of handling potentially dangerous situations. Together, we can keep our workplace safe.

To learn more about what steps you can take to protect your workplace, set up a meeting with our nonprofit team.