Protect  Workers. Strengthen Workplace Safety.

Workplace violence impacts more than just safety. It contributes to staff turnover, burnout, decreased workforce engagement, financial losses, and negatively impacts patient care.

Studies show that by strengthening workplace violence prevention, organizations can decrease incidents of violence, improve employee well-being and engagement, strengthen retention, and elevate patient care.

Healthcare workers experience workplace violence at significantly higher rates than many other professions. Incidents involving patients, visitors, and others can impact employee well-being, retention, patient care, and operational performance. As a result, healthcare organizations are increasingly investing in prevention strategies that help protect staff and improve emergency response.

Effective workplace violence prevention combines training, reporting, response protocols, leadership engagement, and technology that enables staff to quickly summon support during emergencies.

Workplace violence prevention requires a multidisciplinary approach. Healthcare leaders increasingly recognize that safety cannot be owned by a single department.

• Effective workplace violence prevention teams often include:
• Security and emergency management
• Nursing leadership
• Physicians and frontline caregivers
• Human resources
• Risk management
• Behavioral health specialists
• Legal and compliance teams
• Communications leaders

Frontline employees play a particularly important role because they often identify operational vulnerabilities and emerging risks before leadership becomes aware of them. Organizations that foster shared accountability for safety are often better positioned to identify concerns early and implement meaningful improvements.

Healthcare workers need simple, reliable ways to request assistance when emergencies occur. Many organizations implement wearable duress buttons, emergency notification systems, and standardized response protocols to help staff discreetly alert responders and accelerate emergency response.

Many workplace violence incidents escalate over time. Faster response can help de-escalate situations, support staff, reduce severity of injuries, and improve overall outcomes. The ability to quickly summon assistance is often a critical component of workplace violence prevention strategies.

Technology helps organizations improve communication, accelerate response times, support incident management, and strengthen overall safety programs.

Technology plays an important role in helping healthcare organizations accelerate response during emergencies and workplace violence incidents.

Examples include:

• Wearable duress buttons and panic alert systems
• Incident reporting and analytics tools
• Digital incident and asset mapping
• Visitor management systems
• Emergency notification platforms
• Behavioral threat assessment tools
• Real-time communication solutions

A recent survey found that wearable duress buttons are the #1 technology healthcare workers say makes them feel safer. Many healthcare organizations use a combination of wearable duress buttons, digital incident and asset mapping, visitor management tools, and incident reporting solutions as part of a comprehensive workplace violence prevention strategy.

Healthcare leaders often evaluate:

• Ease of use during high-stress situations
• Response speed
• Campus-wide coverage
• Reliability
• Scalability
• Integration capabilities
• Employee adoption
• Privacy considerations

Solutions that are intuitive and trusted by staff are often more likely to be used consistently when assistance is needed.

Many healthcare organizations build business cases by evaluating incident trends, turnover costs, injury claims, workforce satisfaction, and operational impacts. By connecting safety initiatives to workforce stability, organizational resilience, and financial performance, leaders can better quantify the value of prevention efforts.