The Time to Prepare is Now

By Doug Baker, Vice President, Industry Relations, FMI

Every year, more than 2 million workers become victims of workplace violence (WPV), and close to half of human resource professionals say their organization has experienced a WPV incident. In fact, workplace violence has become so pervasive, it’s now the number one threat to corporate safety, more than even cybersecurity. But more alarming is the fact that, despite the gravity of these statistics, nearly half of HR pros and almost a third of employees say they wouldn’t know what to do if faced with a WPV threat.

Amidst the reality of our volatile and uncertain world, the choice is simple: it’s better to be prepared—particularly in the workplace.

Food Retail on the Front Lines

In recent years, the food retail sector has become a frequent target for WPV incidents. Whether perpetrated by patrons or employees, staff and customers have consistently faced verbal and/or physical confrontation as increasing societal stressors, a lack of preparedness, and often soft security measures present an environment where a threat can easily become a catastrophe.

During the pandemic era, workers in the food retail sector have been asked to go above and beyond, facing daily challenges many of us have had the luxury of avoiding in the comfort of our homes. But even as health concerns wane, tensions continue to rise and the threat of workplace violence remains.

Isn’t it time your food retail associates were prepared?

Essential Training for Essential Workers

FMI has partnered with The Power of Preparedness (TPOP) to provide critical skills that can help food retail employees recognize and respond to threats in the workplace. In association with FMI, TPOP has created the Active Assailant Preparedness and Response Guide for the Food Retail Industry, an exceptionally valuable resource for you and your food retail team.

These guidelines detail the complex threats often faced by workers and shoppers across North America and cover pre-incident planning, incident actions, post-incident recovery and includes many resources.  The guidelines also highlight the reasons and causes for these threats, and present methods to identify factors, behaviors, and situations that can lead to an incident and also teach techniques that can aid prevention, improve response, and mitigate the frequency or impact of incidents. The guidelines are based on TPOP’s online training for WPV and active shooter response, training designed specifically for the unique challenges and environment of the food retail industry. The discounted training is available to all FMI members and their employees.

Without proper preparedness, your food retail workers and customers are at much greater risk. But with TPOP and these helpful guidelines, you can boost preparedness in and around your facility, manage that risk, and ease both the personal and financial costs of a potential incident. Best of all, as an introduction to TPOP’s expertise, this critical topline guide is available free to any FMI member.

The time to prepare is now. Download the FMI Active Assailant Preparedness and Response Guide for the Food Retail Industry today. And to learn more about how your organization can take advantage of TPOP’s advanced workplace violence and active shooter preparedness and response training along with a generous FMI member discount, visit www.thepowerofpreparedness.com/fmi/.