Dealing with aggression in the workplace: five point plan

Safety & Health Practitioner

1. Think ahead. Is there anything about the people, environment or task related to the meeting/situation that might cause aggression? For example, do you have to give someone bad news or refuse them something? Is the location remote? Has the person you are meeting shown signs of aggression before? If so, what precautions should you take?
2. Aggression or violence rarely comes out of the blue. Watch out for warning signals – such as sweating, pacing, table tapping or rapid speech and movements — as the earlier you can spot potential aggression, the easier it will be to defuse it.
3. Try to act appropriately when dealing with an aggressive situation, rather than reacting in a manner that could escalate it. Stay calm and make it clear that you are listening to what they are saying by, for example, taking notes or asking questions. Then specify what you can and will do to help them solve the issue. Even if that is just passing their concerns on to a third party, then confirm with them that you have the message correct and specify who the third party will be.
4. Try to ensure that your body language and tone of voice matches what you are saying. We can tell someone we understand and sympathise with them but if we are bored, desperate to go home or have any negative thoughts about them, this information can leak out in our body language or voice. This will be picked up by the other person and will override anything you’re saying.
5. Avoid touching them in an effort to calm them down as this invades their personal space and they may feel threatened, which could lead to further aggression. 

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