Workplace Violence

This UCLA Police Crime Prevention program provides safety and security workshops for University employees. These sessions are presented by trained police officers to assist University departments experiencing an increase in crime against persons, or that have employees expressing fear for their personal safety. The goal is to provide skills for handling potentially threatening situations and prevent future incidents. The Student Affairs staff (Registrar, Financial Aid and Student Health Services) receives this training at the beginning of the school semester.

As an employee

• You have every right to expect respectful treatment from everyone you contact in connection with your work. Tolerance, civility and mutual respect for diversity of background, gender, ethnicity, race and religion is as crucial within our campus community as is mutual respect for diversity of political beliefs, sexual orientation and physical abilities.
• No one has the right to intimidate, harass, mock or threaten you, and you should not accept such treatment from co-workers, supervisors, managers, clients or vendors.
• You should know how to protect yourself and know where to evacuate to in case of a violent incident.
• If you ever come into contact with an armed or erratic person, stay low and out of sight and get as far away from the person as possible, as quickly as you safely can. Armed or wildly erratic people should be considered totally unpredictable.
• It's important that you trust your supervisor or someone else in your department, enough to report any uncomfortable or threatening incidents that have occurred. Even if you find the circumstances embarrassing, your management needs your input to stop the incidents from continuing or getting worse.
• You and your employees should be familiar with your department's policy regarding different types of emergencies.

What should be reported

• If you experience, observe or receive a report of aggressive, threatening or erratic behavior, report such treatment and all details of the situation to your supervisor or another appropriate person in management.
• You should report any behavior that makes you uncomfortable to your supervisor or to someone else in management. Don't be concerned about what other people think or about how you think you should feel.

Your input could help prevent a threatening situation from developing into something much worse. If anyone's behavior has made you uncomfortable, no matter how minor the incident seems to be, report it to your supervisor or another appropriate person in management.

Tips for Preventing Workplace Violence

• Only professional behavior is appropriate for the workplace. Behaving professionally means being calm, rational and respectful, even when someone else is not.
• Seek a moderator when an argument can’t be resolved.
• While it's possible for someone to make a threat and not really mean it, many cases of severe workplace violence have occurred after verbal threats of this kind. You should always take threats seriously and literally and report them immediately.