Workplace Violence Prevention
The West Virginia Hospital Association (WVHA) launched an ongoing collaborative to focus on workplace violence prevention in West Virginia hospitals in February 2025. According to data from the Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA), healthcare workers are nearly four times more likely on average to experience violence than individuals in other industries. The workplace violence prevention collaborative is one component of the WVHA’s efforts to address strengthening the healthcare workforce. The association has been a longtime advocate of legislation to enhance hospital employee and volunteer safety and works with state and federal legislators to ensure a safe environment for both patients and healthcare professionals.
The WVHA’s Workplace Violence Prevention Collaborative’s goal is to reduce workplace violence incidents and increase safety awareness through educational events, webinars, and insights from subject matter experts.
Throughout the year, WVHA will host educational events where members will learn from subject matter experts in workplace violence prevention. Through a series of both in-person events and webinar training, teams will enhance their skills and receive support from content experts.
Member organizations are encouraged to participate in this collaborative to develop and implement sustainable and effective workplace safety programs.
Members may join at any time. Complete the registration form to enroll your facility in the WVHA Workplace Violence Prevention Collaborative.
If you have additional questions, please contact Hallie Morgan at (304) 353-9714 or hmorgan@wvha.org.
Upcoming Events
Additional webinars will be added throughout the year.
WPV Prevention Webinar Series – Topic TBA
Date: September 18, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Speaker: Lynda Enos, RN, MS, COHN-S, CPE
Who should attend: Clinical leadership, safety, quality, risk, patient relations, facilities managers, and safety and security team members.
Workplace Violence Training – Situation Awareness and Personal Safety; Fundamentals of Behavioral Threat Assessment
This comprehensive training program, spanning three core areas, equips participants with the skills and knowledge needed to enhance personal safety, prevent workplace violence, and identify potential threats. The first session focuses on situational awareness and personal safety, teaching attendees how to detect anomalies in their surroundings and make fast, informed decisions to stay safe on and off the job. The second segment addresses the alarming prevalence of violence in healthcare settings and highlights the importance of relationship-building and proactive response planning to prevent and intervene in active shooter situations. Participants will learn about systemic violence prevention strategies tailored to the unique dynamics of each healthcare environment. The third session explores the fundamentals of behavioral threat assessment, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary approaches to managing threats before they escalate. Real-world case studies bring to life the experiences of both investigators and victims, providing insight into the psychological and procedural aspects of threat assessment. Collectively, the training prioritizes trust, communication, and evidence-based practices to enhance individual and organizational preparedness.
Objectives:
1. Situational Awareness and Personal Safety
This training is designed to develop situational awareness skills to keep you safe before, during, and after work. You will learn tips on identifying what is going on around you, understanding baseline observations, and identifying anomalies to make you more alert and able to quickly make informed decisions for your safety. Critical decision-making skill development and observation enhancement tactics are all covered.
- Objective 1: By the end of the session, participants will be able to identify at least three indicators of abnormal behavior or environmental anomalies using baseline observation techniques.
- Objective 2: Participants will demonstrate the ability to apply a decision-making model in response to a simulated situational threat scenario.
2. Healthcare Workplace Violence/Active Shooter Prevention, Intervention, and Response
Violence is one of the most significant occupational hazards facing health care workers today. According to OSHA, 75% of all violence in any workplace occurs in a healthcare setting. Violence reduction programs should be focused on developing a system-wide approach that recognizes every health care system as a community, with every floor being a unique neighborhood, each with different dynamics. 70% of all active shooter events end before police arrive and 90% of active shooter suspects will leak information to a friend or coworker which further demonstrates the need to build relationships with staff and develop training scenarios.
- Objective 1: Participants will be able to describe the key components of a system-wide violence prevention approach tailored to healthcare settings, including the importance of floor-specific dynamics.
- Objective 2: By the end of the training, participants will be able to identify at least two warning signs or behavioral cues that may indicate a potential active shooter threat and explain the importance of early intervention.
3. Fundamentals of Behavioral Threat Assessment
Tragic events across the country in recent years have highlighted the dangers posed by targeted violence and active shooters. To identify, evaluate and manage potentially threatening situations affecting our communities, multi-disciplinary Threat Assessment and Management programs must be developed to evaluate and address violence and threats of violence made towards members of the community. Using evidenced based processes focused on Trust, Training and Technology, we can significantly reduce the risk and anxiety surrounding these events. This presentation provides real life examples of Threat Assessments the speaker has investigated and takes you through the parallel journey of investigators and victims, each with unique yet similar frustrations, emotional impacts and identified gaps in the processes.
- Objective 1: Participants will be able to outline the three pillars of effective threat assessment—Trust, Training, and Technology—and describe their role in violence prevention.
- Objective 2: Using a case study, participants will analyze a real-life threat scenario and identify at least two intervention points where early threat assessment could have altered the outcome.
Speaker Bio: Brian Uridge, MPA, CPP, CHPA, CTM
Brian currently serves as the Senior Director at the University of Michigan Department of Public Safety and Security and oversees Michigan Medicine Safety and Security. Brian is also a sworn police officer for the University. He manages over 300 public safety staff members for a system that has 40,000 employees that see over four Million patients a year.
Brian retired as the Assistant Chief of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety in Kalamazoo, Michigan after 23 years. He is the recipient of the Kalamazoo Public Safety Medal of Valor and Kalamazoo Public Safety Lifesaving award.
Brian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s degree in Public Administration. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, along with being a Board-Certified Protection Professional (CPP) Board-Certified Healthcare Protection Administrator (CHPA) and Board-Certified Threat Manager (CTM)
Who Should Attend:
Healthcare professionals across all levels, especially those in patient-facing roles, security, administration, and leadership, should attend this training to strengthen their ability to recognize and respond to safety threats. The training equips participants with critical situational awareness skills, practical decision-making tactics, and tools to identify environmental and behavioral anomalies. Given the increasing incidence of workplace violence in healthcare settings, it is essential for staff to understand system-wide prevention strategies and early intervention techniques, particularly for active shooter scenarios. Additionally, the session offers a foundational understanding of behavioral threat assessment, enabling multidisciplinary teams to proactively address and manage potential threats through trust, training, and technology.
We will be holding two, half-day training courses so that hospital staff can attend the date and location that works best for them. The content of each session is the same.
Date: September 30, 2025, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Location: Stonewall Resort, Roanoke, WV
Click here to register.
Hotel Reservations – Stonewall
There is a block of rooms available September 29 at the rate of $179 plus fees. The room block closes on August 30. To book, use this link or call Stonewall at (304) 269-7400 and mention the Violence in the Workplace room block.
Date: October 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Location: Glade Springs Resort, Daniels, WV
Click here to register.
Hotel Reservations – Glade Springs
There is a block of rooms available September 30 at the rate of $159 plus fees. The room block closes on September 1. To book, call Glade Springs at (844) 668-5760 and mention the Violence in the Workplace room block.
WPV Webinar Series: Introduction to Safe Patient Handling and Mobility
Date: October 30, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Offered in conjunction with our WPV Webinar Series – this 75-minute webinar will focus on safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM). Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common work-related injury among health care workers and the greatest risk factor for injury is patient handling. SPHM can reduce the risk of healthcare workers’ injury and benefit patients by facilitating safe and early mobility.
Speaker: Lynda Enos, RN, BSN, MS, COHN-S, CPE, is a is a certified occupational health nurse and certified professional ergonomist with over 30 years of work and consulting experience in industrial and health care ergonomics. She is a principle consultant with HumanFit, LLC in Boring, Oregon.
Ms. Enos is a thought leader, published author and nationally recognized expert on preventing violence and musculoskeletal injuries in healthcare settings.
Her work in healthcare ergonomics spans over 20 years , involving the design, implementation, and management of safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) and ergonomics programs for numerous hospital systems, clinics, assisted living facilities, and home health and hospice services in the United States. Assistance includes support of SPHM programs for several years per facility.
Ms. Enos was a contributor for the 2013 and 2021 editions of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Interdisciplinary Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Standards. Most recently, Ms. Enos co-authored a white paper “Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM): A Process to Protect Health Care Workers and Recipients” that was published by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), the Association of Safe Patient Handling Professionals (ASPHP), and ANA.
In 2014, Ms. Enos received the Ergonomics Professional of the Year Award from the Puget Sound Human Factors and Ergonomics society and in 2017 she received the Advocacy Award for Safe Patient Handling, awarded by the Tampa VA Research and Education Foundation and the Association of Safe Patient Handling Professionals
Who should attend: Clinical leadership, safety, quality, risk, and patient relations.
WPV Prevention Webinar Series – Topic TBA
Date: November 20, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Location: Microsoft Teams
Speaker: Lynda Enos, RN, MS, COHN-S, CPE
Who should attend: Clinical leadership, safety, quality, risk, patient relations, facilities managers, and safety and security team members.
Proudly supported by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation under award number 20240232.