How to Use the Case Studies

Dealing with Workplace Violence: A Guide for Agency Planners

Part II. Case Studies

The case studies presented in this section are derived from real life situations that have arisen in Federal agencies. They are intended to provide assistance to agency planners as they develop workplace violence programs and assess their readiness to handle these types of situations. It should be noted that, in some of the case studies, the circumstances have been modified to make them better learning tools.

As you read the case studies, keep in mind that there is no one correct way to handle each situation. The case studies should not be taken as specific models of how to handle certain types of situations. Rather, they should be a starting point for a discussion and exploration of how a team approach can be instituted and adapted to the specific needs and requirements of your agency.

Questions for discussion

The case studies are intended to raise questions such as:

1. Do we agree with the approach the agency took in the case study?
2. If not, why wouldn't that approach work for us?
3. Do we have adequate resources to handle such a situation?

Questions for program evaluation

Establish a system to evaluate the effectiveness of your response in actual situations that arise so that you can change your procedures if necessary. Ask the following questions after reviewing each of the case studies and after planning how your agency would respond to the same or a similar situation:

1. Does our workplace violence program have a process for evaluating the effectiveness of the team's approach following an incident?
2. Would our written policy statement and written procedures limit our ability to easily adopt a more effective course of action in the future, if an evaluation of our response showed that a change in procedures was necessary?
3. Do we have plans to test our response procedures and capability through practice exercises and preparedness drills and change procedures if necessary?

Although these case studies are derived from real life situations, the characters in them are fictional and have been created for educational purposes. No reference to any individual living or dead is intended or should be inferred.