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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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