...what are your people to do if something actually happens and they find themselves face-to-face with an attacker?

The problem with the majority of workplace violence plans today is probably invisible to the individuals responsible for writing them. In fact, the missing part is conspicuously missing from most of the training programs and advice offered by even the most expensive consultants. And yet, it's this critical element that, if missed, could leave you and your company with the very same liability issue that you originally implemented your plan to handle in the first place.

Don't misunderstand me. Prevention is absolutely your first line of defense. So, by all means, keep your "zero-tolerance" statement, and implement your banned-weapons lists and employee communications and interaction policies. Likewise, all of those reporting policies and procedures that you've worked long and hard on, shouldn't go to waste either. But, we shouldn't forget why we're bothering to create a workplace violence policy for your company. And that reason is...

...liability control, crisis management, and loss control.

Isn't that right?

Well, that should be the reason. So, unless you're in the habit of creating policies for your company just because you read an article about it somewhere, and the writer said you should have one, your workplace violence policy should be seen as a life-saving part of the overall liability-management systems you already have.

Of course, when I say "life-saving", I'm referring to the lives of everyone who is covered by your workplace violence plan. But, I'm also talking about it in the sense of your company's financial life. Because, whether you've thought about it or not, a violent incident occurring in your business can literally wipe your company out. Because an enraged attacker, whether employee or outsider, as is usually the case in the medical care industry, isn't thinking about your "zero-tolerance" stance, the fact that the weapon that he or she is using is listed as a banned weapon in your company, or even what your going to do to them after they unleash their wrath.

However, I can assure you that the new breed of lawyers who are standing by, waiting to represent any of your employees injured in a workplace violence incident, care about the same missing elements to your plan that I am. And these missing elements include:

* Escape and evasion tactics during a violent attack

* Assault-evasion skills

* Assault prevention training, and of course...

* Self-Protection skills

These are the elements that could make or break your company's survival and future existence. The only elements that are designed specifically to save the lives of...

* your employees and managers - literally

* you're business' financial state, and maybe even more importantly...

* ...it's legal position should there be the threat of post incident action by injured employees making the company liable for not providing this type of training in the first place.

I know your plan looks great. But whether or not you're the one who put it together, you owe it to yourself, your company, and the people who depend on you for proper decisions, to make sure that it's more than just a "feel-good" policy that put a feather in somebody's cap.

Make sure that- when you need it the most - when you're facing your worst nightmare in human form - it won't leave you hoping you'll survive so you can fill out those incident reporting forms!