Dive Brief:

• Sean Stoker reports for the eLearning Brothers blog that incidents of workplace violence are urging learning and development teams to educate employees on prevention. The Bureau of Labor Statistics advised that as of 2014, there were 15,980 reported traumas. 12% of the 4,679 workplace deaths were attributed to workplace violence.
• Stoker shares the three things that should be included in an e-course on workplace violence, to ensure it is valuable to employees. These elements include: a knowledge of what constitutes workplace violence, how to identify the signs of violence about to break out, and how to take steps to prevent it. 
• Communication and awareness should be the main objectives of any workplace violence training, along with well-designed and easy to understand and implement content. 

Dive Insight:

While the stats have changed some since 2014, the problem of workplace violence isn't going anywhere. Anti-violence training can and should be included with all standard employee training. Having a platform like e-learning to deliver this training is cost-effective and convenient. The elements that should be included based on Stoker's article are spot on, but there is one component he left out: how to train employees what to do if violence happens in a work situation.

This alone can save lives. A possible suggestion to augment digital training content could be to have an in-house training session conducted by a police officer who has responded to workplace violence calls. Another possible option would be to conduct drills and teach employees what to do in a simulated practice. Even just having access to a checklist of what to do if faced with an emergency like this is better than no education at all.