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10. Monitoring and Follow-Up Policies

A comprehensive set of policies should be available to ensure that the process for managing violence is clear to all staff.

Adequate monitoring and evaluation systems should be in place to ensure that policies remain appropriate and actually prevent violence and aggression in the workplace by identifying new hazards and updating management (control) options.

In determining the frequency of the monitoring and review processes, consider such things as:

• the level of risk (see the Risk Table in Appendix 2)
• the type of work involved
• whether the work environment has changed.

Such monitoring must be followed by meaningful analysis and appropriate investigation recognising the chronic under-reporting of these incidents evident internationally.

Monitoring and Follow-Up Policies

• set up adequate monitoring systems that will record not only incidents and assaults but also 'near-misses' and events which indicate a review of the management system may be necessary
• undertake meaningful analysis and appropriate investigation of all such incidents and events
• have a policy on when complaints should be laid with the Police, which is agreed with local Police.

It is useful to break the management of workplace violence into three phases, using a 'before, during and after' approach.

Before

Planning and Implementation. Plan to eliminate or reduce the impact of workplace violence.

During

Immediate response. Follow the plans and procedures that are in place.

After

Recovery and review. Return things to normal as soon as possible. Provide support to minimise the impact of the incident. Review incident to identify areas in need of improvement.

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