I am truly excited regarding this Roundtable Forum edition of PracticePoints! At CCN we very intentionally pursue the "cross-training" benefit of involvement in the realms of employee assistance, human resources, risk management, insurance, safety, loss prevention, occupational health, disability management, and clinical practice. It is through this multidisciplinary approach that we can most effectively equip our team to meet the objectives of our customers.
This month our topical focus will be upon highlighting an impacted organization’s objectives for critical incident response – from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. We have selected partners of CCN from various professions and asked for their unique perspectives regarding a workplace violence case study. Each profession views the same critical incident through a different lens which must be understood by a successful response organization. Our objective is to broaden our Specialists' understanding of client needs. We asked six industry leaders to respond from their professional roles to a dramatized video case study. We hope you find this discussion both enlightnening and enjoyable. (To view the video click CCN Dramatization)

Best!

Dr. Betty Gilmore, Clinical Director

Nancy Brennan
Vice President
Specialty Risk Services (SRS)
SRS provides Workers' Compensation, Auto and General Liability, Product Liability and Integrated Benefits claim administration and risk management services to both self-insured, insured and alternative market clients, including many Fortune 500 companies.
www.specialtyriskservices.com  

Pat Conroy
Program Director
Council on Certification of Health, Environmental and Safety Technologists (CCHEST)
The Council on Certification of Health, Environmental and Safety Technologists (CCHEST) operates certification programs for safety and health practitioners at the technologist/technician and supervisor levels. Since 1985, the organization has operated as a joint venture of the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) and the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP).  Its certifications, including the OHST (Occupational Health and Safety Technologist®)/Certified Loss Control Specialist (CLCS), CHST (Construction Health and Safety Technician®), and STS (Safety Trained Supervisor) are peer certification programs nationally accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). 
www.cchest.org  

Dr. Andrew Edelman
Founder
Leadership Development Consultants International (LDCI)
Leadership Development Consultants International (LDCI) focuses on maximizing organizational profitability and productivity, specializing in crisis prevention, conflict management, and interpersonal risk mitigation initiatives worldwide. Clients include corporations, government, law enforcement, education and health care agencies. www.DrAndyEdelman.com  

John Hassard
Loss Prevention
John Hassard has served a number of international retail organizations in a variety of Security and Loss Prevention Management positions over the past 20 years. He currently also serves as a consultant based out of the Southeast USA.  

David Smith
Divisional Vice President – Risk Management
Family Dollar Stores
Family Dollar is one of the fastest growing discount store chains in the United States. Headquartered in Matthews, NC, Family Dollar’s first store opened in 1959. Today, Family Dollar is a Fortune 500 company with annual sales in excess of $6.5 Billion with more than 6,430 stores, 9 distribution centers, 44,000 associates in 44 states and growing at a rate of 300 stores a year.
www.familydollar.com  

Dr. Edward Trieber
Managing Partner
Harris Rothenberg International, LLC
Harris Rothenberg International (HRI) is a performance management firm. The company helps employers solve their most challenging and complex people issues and delivers executive services, employee and employer assistance programs, work/life services, behavioral risk management, and training.
http://www.harrisrothenberg.com/

Brennan (Claims Management) Our first concern would be to make certain that the risk of physical/emotional harm to employees be contained as quickly as possible. Our next objective would be to ensure that the employer's management and employees have the tools and support in place to return to productivity as soon as practicable and then to have trained claims professionals in place to respond empathetically but effectively on our client's behalf regarding any subsequent occupational or liability exposures. 

Edelman (Law Enforcement) This organization must provide the immediate psychological first aid necessary to help the survivors cope with the critical incident, ideally through an experienced crisis care organization consisting of highly qualified and certified therapists and crisis intervention specialists. This will not only help employees and family members cope more effectively, but will also demonstrate to the outside world that the organization is committed to its people, helpful for buffering the impact of negative public opinion and potential litigation. [read more]

Trieber (Employee Assistance) HRI has the ability to quickly and effectively respond, identify and provide comprehensive solutions regarding the organization’s needs. EAP professionals should have many years of experience dealing with trauma response including coaching senior leadership, addressing the needs of the families affected, working with staff, facilitating support group meetings, and identifying future safety concerns, to name a few.

Hassard (Loss Prevention) Retail Loss Prevention in particular includes robberies which require planning and response similar to the incident depicted here. [read more]

Hassard (Loss Prevention) In addition to a so-called random rate of workplace violence issues such as that depicted here, retail in particular suffers from a higher rate of robberies.  While most are non-violent (in intent perhaps), they still cause significant trauma to the victims.  Responsible retailers are addressing this by seeking out the affected employees (and customers) and initiating critical incident response services.  It is difficult to quantify the results from a proactive response, but reduced turnover, an increased sense of “company belonging”, and genuine caring attitudes make it well worthwhile in the long run.  A good operating philosophy is to offer as much treatment and support to affected employees based on the premise that “It is the right thing to do”. [read more]

Smith (Risk Management) The CEO would obviously be most pleased if such an event never occurred. However, realistic satisfaction would be achieved if Risk Management had fine tuned protocols for such a situation -- well honed, and operating on “muscle memory” so as not to be distracted (as much as possible) by the emotional nature of the event. The response team must reflect a strong image of focus, direction, compassion, and determination to drive the corporation positively through the crisis. [read more]