ASSTSAS conference: developing a violence prevention program
OHS officers need talking points and tools for effective interventions in the field. It is with this in mind that Josée Lamoureux, consultant for the Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail du secteur affaires sociales (ASSTSAS), came to present the Network participants with what is a violence prevention program.
When the dangers come precisely from the people we care for, it is impossible to eliminate them at the source. A violence prevention program is a tool for identifying and acting to prevent and control the risk factors for violence committed by the clientele towards the staff. To do this, three levels of prevention are preferred: (1) prevent at the source, (2) protect oneself and manage the crises and (3) recover and learn. All these levels are pertinent and contribute to developing a safe work environment that fosters maintaining the healthcare professionals’ health.
After learning about a violence prevention program, participants were invited, using two role-playing exercises, to answer the two following questions: what risk factors would you handle as a priority? If you wanted to develop a prevention program for a centre of activities, what would be the information you would need to document the problem?
A great opportunity to develop skills and put knowledge into practice.