go2HR Resources to Enhance Workplace Health and Safety Culture
go2HR has provided information and a checklist to help employers take a proactive approach to managing challenging guest interactions and prevent escalation.
Responding to challenging guest interactions can take a physical, emotional, and psychological toll on workers, affecting their work and personal lives. Other unwanted consequences can include increased absenteeism, high turnover, negative public image, and lost productivity if the risk of workplace violence is not adequately addressed.
Challenging guest interactions can include worker harassment, verbal abuse and, in escalating situations, even physical violence. Let's take this example: A group of guests are angry due to longer-than-usual wait times to enter an establishment. They are becoming visibly agitated and are being disrespectful to the frontline worker. What if the worker hasn't been trained on how to respond to this kind of escalating situation?
By implementing proactive measures to support workers and having appropriate incident response procedures, employers can positively influence the workplace safety culture. Additionally, they can show their workers that they genuinely care about worker personal safety and wellbeing.
Employers in BC have a legal responsibility to protect workers from violence (including harassment). This can be accomplished by:
Conducting a risk assessment to determine the risk of violence
Implementing suitable control measures to protect workers, such as specific cash handling procedures or posting supportive signage
Determining and adhering to appropriate staffing levels to avoid working alone
Training workers to recognize the risk and how to respond to intensifying situations
Developing incident response procedures that include de-escalation techniques and incident follow up
Checklists for the Workplace
To help tourism and hospitality employers manage workplace violence, go2HR’s health and safety professionals have developed a suite of checklists. These are designed to assist businesses in addressing violence in the workplace by focusing on proactive prevention tasks, staff training topics, and appropriate incident response.
