ASIS, SHRM Join to Develop Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention Standard

Workplace violence, in its many forms, presents one of the most challenging security and personnel safety problems that an organization can face. The WVPI standard, which is based on the ASIS Workplace Violence Prevention and Response Guideline published in 2005, 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 also will 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 also will 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. 

“The ASIS Commission on Standards and Guidelines is excited about this partnership. The fundamental change of guidelines to standards and taking leadership in this area are of significant value to ASIS members as well as businesses, the media, governmental entities and the public,” said Mark Geraci, CPP, chairman of the ASIS Commission on Standards and Guidelines.

“SHRM sees standards development and application as key attributes of a professional society,” said Lee Webster, SPHR, director of HR Standards for SHRM. “We look forward to developing this standard with ASIS and leveraging our mutual expertise to improve the safety and productivity of workplaces in all sectors.”

Stakeholders will include security personnel, human resources, legal counsel, business owners and executive-level managers, occupational safety and health personnel, union leaders, employee assistance programs, law enforcement, clinicians and service providers in the mental health field, insurers and practitioners who specialize in threat management and violence prevention, public relations/corporate communications and risk management and crisis management professionals.

ASIS International, an organization for security professionals worldwide, and SHRM, the world’s largest professional association devoted to human resource management, are both ANSI-accredited standards development organizations. ASIS and SHRM will establish a technical committee comprised of users/managers, producer/service providers and other interested parties to develop the WVPI Standard. The ASIS standards operating procedures will be used in the development of this standard.

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