ASIS and SHRM to develop joint workplace violence prevention standard

by AF0317 g3 — March 20, 2009—ASIS International and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), both American National Standards Institute accredited Standards Development Organizations, will collaborate on the development of a joint Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention American National Standard, according to ASIS.

The standard is based on the ASIS Workplace Violence Prevention and Response Guideline published in 2005. ASIS International is a leading organization for security professionals worldwide. SHRM says it is the world’s largest professional association devoted to human resource management.

Workplace violence, in its many forms, presents one of the most challenging security and personnel safety problems that an organization can face, says ASIS. The intent of this standard is to provide information and practical methods that will enable an organization to develop an effective and informed approach to prevention and intervention.

The Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention standard will provide an overview of general policies, processes and protocols that organizations can adopt to help prevent threatening behavior and violence affecting the workplace. It will also help organizations respond to and resolve security incidents involving threats and episodes of violence.

The standard will present practical definitions of workplace violence that will include a continuum of problematic behavior and will classify incidents based on the relationship between a perpetrator and a victim. It will also outline security prevention and intervention strategies as well as procedures for detecting, investigating, managing and addressing threatening behavior or violent episodes that occur in a workplace.

For more information, visit ASIS.