Workplace violence is one of those phenomenon that occurs with great frequency, but that is painful to bring up and openly discuss. Oftentimes, it is difficult for business officials to recognize that an environment that they are responsible for maintaining could foster a violent incident, and as such, they leave education for recognizing and addressing a violent incident on the back burner.

Recognizing how important information dispersal is to diminish the likelihood that a violent incident will transpire in the workplace, officials in Shelby County, Tennessee, recently developed a free workplace violence prevention seminar with the assistance of AlliedBarton Security Services and the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

According to Brent O'Bryan of AlliedBarton's Learning & Development department, nearly two million Americans' lives are impacted by a workplace violence incident, and that the awareness and education fostered through similar seminars can serve to lower that statistic.

"Workplace violence takes a terrible toll on our society in terms of economic loss and more importantly in terms of human suffering," said Chief Joseph Ruff of the Shelby County Sheriff's Department. "When we use the term violence we really mean aggression in any form. The scars from constant psychological attacks are no less real than the ones from physical attacks. We must educate our workforce at every level, from CEOs to entry level employees, on how to identify workplace violence and the impending signs and provide them with clear instructions on who to tell and how to act when they or a co-worker becomes a victim."

However, putting together an event such as this with input from so many trusted professional experts can be a daunting task for a small municipal government. In order to gain assistance with workplace violence awareness initiatives, business continuity planning consultants can be deployed to assist both governments and corporate officials design programs to enhance the community's ability to defuse violent situations before they cause any irreparable damage.