Domestic violence leaves home: Is your workplace ready?

Private conflicts take wings and impact workplaces, churches and more.

It may seem strange that a supervisor would need to be overly concerned about an employee’s home life. The unwritten rules of the workplace state that our domestic and professional lives are separate.

Recurring headlines, however, illustrates that there is no clear separation between work, school, home or church when it comes to domestic violence.

What’s the solution? Although nothing can stop all acts of violence, employers can create an environment and policies that preempt acts of violence and protect co-workers from assault.

It starts with paying attention to the mental and emotional state of employees and training your colleagues to do the same. Facility security and surveillance also play a role.

Don’t wait until a violent incident breaks out to address this all-too-real phenomenon in our society.

ABOUT VAUGHN BAKER

Vaughn Baker is president of Strategos International, a Kansas City, Mo.,-based firm that provides security training, consulting and executive protection services.

Baker has 20 years of experience in law enforcement including patrol, investigation, SWAT and special operations. He has trained thousands of school, health care, government, law enforcement and military personnel in security practices. Baker has also developed specialized intruder response curriculum for schools and churches, including some of the nation’s leading training on behavior pattern recognition. He is the author of The Church Security Handbook and, with Mark Warren, Active Threat.

In addition, he served as deputy director of training and as an instructor for the Surefire Institute, a California-based tactical lighting manufacturer and tactical training company.

He is also the director of security for a church of more than 7,500 in the Kansas City area, a position he has held for more than a decade.

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