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 Technology & Development Center |
Violence
Awareness Training
for Field Employees
In recent years Forest Service employees have been victimized by violence and threats of violence. Forest Service employees at all levels in the organization have expressed concern for their personal safety or that of their coworkers. In response, the Washington Office Safety and Health unit decided in October 1998 to sponsor a project to learn more about the nature and extent of exposure to violent victimization of Forest Service workers so appropriate training materials could be developed, produced,and disseminated.
The project was based at the Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) with Jon Driessen, Ph.D., serving as Project Leader. In December of 1998 MTDC contracted with Daniel Doyle, Ph.D., a criminologist from Missoula, to serve as Principal Investigator. Later, Lisa Outka, a graduate student in criminology, was added as Project Assistant.
As originally envisioned, a comprehensive personal safety program for Forest Service workers would have to address violence and threats of violence in three different arenas:
Given the lack of available training materials and the overall dearth of information on the nature and extent of violence in remote work settings, the project team determined to concentrate initial efforts on exposure to violence in remote work settings. Subsequent development work has shown a substantial overlap between the three arenas. For example, disputes arising in remote work settings sometimes spill over into the office setting. On-the-job threats of violence sometimes spill over into the community and home life of Forest Service employees. There is a need for training in office safety, but other training materials are currently available. The need for training in office safety is not as immediate as the need for training in the other arenas. Some material that applies to office safety can be integrated into training modules focusing on general safety awareness, problems in remote work settings, and personal safety in the community and at home.
Much of the concern about violence arose because of a few dramatic, very serious incidents of violence against Forest Service workers. However, development work to date has shown that verbal threats, abuse, and harassment are far more common than physical attacks. Therefore, a major focus of the training program has to be on handling such threats and reducing the probability that they will escalate into physical violence.
No training program can prevent all violence. Some violence (including very serious violence like assault or arson) is very difficult, if not impossible, to anticipate or avoid. Many of the root causes of violence in our society and of the tensions that give rise to violence are outside the control of the Forest Service or its workers. The orientation of this program will be on giving Forest Service employees the tools to anticipate (insofar as possible) and cope with threats to personal safety that arise in a sometimes unpredictable world.
Based on work done to date, the project team recommends that the violence awareness and personal safety program take the form of at least five videotape modules with associated training materials. The first module (and the module with the highest priority) would be designed to raise employee awareness of potential problems and to provide general preventive measures that can be employed by Forest Service workers in a variety of work settings. The second module would be addressed to workers with supervisory duties. It would be designed to raise their awareness of potential problems and to encourage them to make violence safety a priority. The third module would be oriented toward helping Forest Service workers understand and cope with violence or threats they may face in their community and at home because of their jobs. The fourth module would focus on how workers in field settings can read scenes and people to avoid or better handle potentially dangerous situations. The fifth module would concern what to do if a potentially dangerous encounter takes place in a remote setting.
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