| Workplace
trauma has received more attention in recent years.
People typically think of workplace 'violence' upon
hearing about trauma inthe workplace. They tend
to associate workplace violence with employees or
ex-employees shooting people in the workplace due
largely to the media¹s emphasis on these incidents.
In fact, there are many events that can precipitate
traumatic reactions for people in the workplace.
Any event that affects the geographic locale in
which a business is situated can affect people in
the workplace. Moreover, many incidents that have
an impact within a company or organization will
affect the employees of that group.
A workplace is a community, with all of the
subsequent issues of identity and culture. It will
have its own norms and expectations for how and
when things are discussed, what are acceptable and
appropriate behaviors, the roles of formal and informal
leaders, and feelings of pride and identification
with the community. Because of this sense of community,
when a traumatic event occurs in the workplace,
there needs to be a response by an employer to one
of the organization¹s greatest resources -
the employees. Such support must be afforded to
workers regardless of what is being done for the
people in the organization by the outside community.
To ignore an event and its impact on employees is
a tragic mistake for the continued success of the
business and the recovery and mental health of the
employees - both being dependent on the other. What
an employer would do in any situation will vary
and depend upon many variables. A response, however,
is critical.
There are many types of traumatic events that occur
in the workplace. They include:
- Natural disasters- hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, fires
- Human-caused incidents - explosions, fires,
violence from firearms or other weapons, rape,
threats, robbery, assaults, domestic violence,
stalking
- Deaths (including homicide/suicide) - on-the-job,
away from the job, work-related, accidental,
disease-caused, violent
- Downsizing/layoffs - mergers, buy outs, large
or small, by division or cross the board
- Construction
Unfortunately, no workplace can consider itself
immune to potential traumatic events. A traumatic
event can directly affect one employee or can be
a large scale event and be experienced directly
by all employees. An employer may want to identify
and assess risk for potential events and begin a
planning process to respond accordingly. The risk
can be for specific natural disasters, or may be
particular to that employer dependent on the nature
of the work and organizational culture. It is incumbent
upon the employer to plan in order to prevent or
at least lower the risk of occurrence, and to also
plan for response efforts in case of an unavoidable
or unpredictable event.
Why is it important for the workplace to consider
trauma response? Success of the business or company,
both short and long-term, may hinge on management¹s
response to a traumatic event.
If employees feel neglected, their loyalty and commitment
to their employer can be withheld. If an employee
develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the
health care costs borne by the company will be extensive,
and depending upon the state, there can be an expensive
Workers¹ Compensation claim and a possible
lawsuit. Often there will be increased physical
health costs secondary to emotional response that
will also affect absenteeism. Productivity can suffer.
The loss of productivity can be minimized and contained
if the employer plans a timely and appropriate response.
The loss of loyalty, commitment, productivity, increased
absenteeism, retention challenges, and health costs
are all sufficient reasons for employers to plan
for and address trauma in the workplace, especially
given the minimal expense involved in planning.
University of California (UC) - Berkeley is the
largest employer in the East Bay of the San Francisco
Bay Area with approximately 15,000 faculty and staff.
Of course, the customers or clients of this employer
are the students, which number approximately 35,000.
Universities tend to think of themselves as communities,
and in fact, provide full community services to
many. This may include, as it does at UC Berkeley,
housing, food, entertainment, recreational facilities
and activities, health care, libraries, police,
museums, cultural performances, etc. Most of the
students, faculty, and staff live in Berkeley and
its surrounding communities.
Because it is a public university, there is an emphasis
at UC Berkeley on its service responsibilities to
the people of the state of California. Due to the
highly political nature of the campus and the city
of Berkeley, there is often highly charged controversy
and turmoil surrounding any action (or inaction)
by the University. To support its standing as one
of the top universities, excellence is highly valued
in all areas.
Due to its geographic location on the Hayward Fault,
and due to the many types of people the Berkeley
community attracts, anticipating traumatic events
and planning for them may be more obvious than in
some other workplaces. Some issues are common to
all workplaces and UC Berkeley has both led the
way and learned from examples of others.
The following is what UC Berkeley has developed
to respond to the range of traumatic events with
specific examples of experience given in each category.
Natural Disasters: 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
and 1991 Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm
UC Berkeley is situated in a region that has
earthquakes, fires, and mudslides. Disaster planning
has become an additional activity for many of the
University service departments, such as the police,
Health services, telecommunications, housing and
dining, physical plant, etc. The experiences of
the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1991 Oakland
- Berkeley firestorm helped to solidify the need
for response by this employer. Though the physical
site was not damaged in either event, many people
who worked on campus were directly affected, through
loss of life, home, and outside business. Though
the overwhelming need in the hours or even day(s)
immediately following a disaster is not specifically
for mental health response, there is a significant
need for attending to the experience of people confronted
with the disaster in order to prevent PTSD. Identification
of those at risk with subsequent special outreach,
provision of general educational materials on trauma
response to all faculty and staff, offering of Critical
Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) and more casual
debriefings, as well as longer term follow-up at
3 and 6 months and 1 year have all worked well following
these events.
This employer recognizes the need for a mental health
response and it is part of the disaster planning
effort. In addition to the above activities, screening
of response workers and emergency operations center
decision makers for trauma symptoms is vital. There
has been success at receiving FEMA funding for some
of these activities following the firestorm in coordination
with local community mental health. There must be
coordination between the employer and the community
to avoid service duplication. However, it is important
for the disaster to be addressed within workgroups
regardless of what is offered in the community.
The employer¹s top management may be well served
by mental health input into their actions and communications
to employees.
Workplace Violence
According to California Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA), workplace violence
can be categorized in several ways. ³Type 1
violence² is committed by an outside person
coming into the workplace with the intention of
committing a crime (e.g., robbing a convenience
store). ³Type 2 violence² is when a person
who is receiving service or who has reason to be
at the workplace, is violent toward the service
provider (e.g., shooting by a patient of emergency
room physicians). ³Type 3 violence² is
due to some employment connection - current or former
employee or domestic violence brought into the workplace.
Most people think of Type 3 when they think of workplace
violence, but in fact, Type 1 is by far the most
common workplace violence. An employer must examine
the type of work and assess for which risks exist
and how to mitigate them.
At UC Berkeley, we have opportunities for all three
types of violence and have attempted to address
them with appropriate measures. A Behavior Risk
Assessment team has been in existence for many years
to review threats or concerns about the behavior
of a student, faculty or staff member. Team members
are called together as the need arises, with participants
from different roles present depending on the situation.
This team, along with a statement from the Chancellor
(i.e., CEO) setting the limits of appropriate behaviors,
has proven to be effective in addressing Types 2
and 3 workplace violence. Security measures have
been instituted in the appropriate departments at
risk for Type 1violence. An additional activity
is the training of as many faculty and staff as
possible about workplace violence, including identifying
the behavioral symptoms in colleagues that are of
concern for potential violence.
Death including Homicide and Suicide
Because the deaths of colleagues or the people that
you provide services for have an impact and a ripple
effect for people in the workplace, employer response
is extremely significant. If there is no process
to address the deaths of those within the workplace,
the grief response can be exacerbated. These individuals
are already tapping into their past experience with
death in their lives and need the recognition by
their employer and those around them that the most
recent death does have an impact on them. To facilitate
the emotional response and grieving, the University
developed guidelines, laid out in a website, to
follow in the event of a death of a member of the
campus community, as well as some suggestions for
the employer when a family member of an employee
dies. Employees never forget how an employer treats
them at such a challenging time - when death occurs.
An employer who ignores or does not acknowledge
the death of someone close to an employee can actually
interfere with normal grieving and precipitate a
complicated grief response. Specific guidelines
that are included to address the emotional needs
are Employee Assistance Program facilitated grief
groups in departments, grief and loss psycho-educational
groups and support groups, educational material
on grief/loss and community resources. Suggestions
for handling rituals, memorials, flowers, donations,
condolence cards from the employer, time off etc.
are also addressed.
Downsizing/layoffs of the 1980s and 1990s
Loss of a job can be psychologically devastating
to an individual. For some, it provides new opportunities
and new employment. For others, it may touch on
past experiences and create such an overwhelming
loss of identity and livelihood, that a traumatic
response is precipitated. In order to assist these
individuals and address the mental health needs
of all involved in this situation, specific activities
to attend to these people need to occur. Educational
materials on the impact of grief and loss and change,
groups for people who are losing/lost their job,
promotion of activities that enhance self-esteem,
individual counseling and outplacement services
including career planning and retraining, are all
part of a comprehensive response. Additional consultation
with decision-makers regarding communications is
vital. Despite all of the services in place, lack
of communication or insensitive communication can
add a traumatic quality to the action of the layoff
itself. UC Berkeley responded as above during this
difficult time in the early 1990s.
Building Construction
Construction on the worksite can be a major disruption
for an employer and its employees. It changes the
relationships of coworkers, prompts temporary physical
moves, calls for tolerance of immense noise, dust,
inconvenience, and in general, changes work as it
had been. It may never return to exactly the same
- there will always be some difference (even if
it is just structural work). How an individual experiences
this will be based on past experience with change,
etc. Though difficult for anyone affected by construction,
this experience can bring forward memories of prior
traumas for some (e.g., unwanted or unanticipated
relocating). At UC Berkeley, a team has been formed
to look at the human impact of construction - to
facilitate a communication process and address the
issues that may arise for employees to prevent unnecessary
stress.
Conclusion
Bad things happen to people and places. Sometimes
these bad things involve injury and even death.
However, it doesn¹t take death for people to
be seriously impacted in their lives.
If the aforementioned issues are recognized by an
employer, it will become obvious that attention
needs to be paid to the impact of these events on
the business and the people in the business. By
taking some time at the front end to plan for preventing
or minimizing traumatic events, and for responding
when they occur, much of the negative impact of
such events can be mitigated.
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