Critical Event Planning
Create a Critical Event Response Plan for Your Business
You can’t guarantee that you or your staff will never be exposed to trauma in the workplace. But you can prepare, to help prevent the most debilitating effects of the trauma. This preparation may include training staff to respond in the moment, and providing coping strategies and social support after an incident.
Critical events may impact your workers individually, or affect the entire workplace.
Critical events related to an individual could include:
Physical health issues
Accident, injury, overdose or other suicide attempt, heart attack, diabetic coma, seizure
Mental health issues
Panic attack, acute stress reaction, psychotic episode
Critical events impacting all workers could include:
Response to individual event
Group reaction to death or catastrophic injury of a co-worker
Disaster
Fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, blizzard
Physical plant problem
Building collapse, severe heat or cold, blackout
Malicious activity
Violence, robbery, bomb threat, terrorism (resulting in evacuation or lockdown)
Contributing Source: Workplace Strategies for Mental Health
Every business’s situation is unique, so we recommend creating a critical event response plan specifically for your company. You can find resources to help by entering “Critical Event Planning” in the top search bar. You may also want to consider the Mental Health First Aid training program to be better prepared to cope with an employee’s psychological crisis.
Workplaces that employ first responders (police, fire and military) can access specific resources, such as Road to Mental Readiness.
Selected other job sectors (Human services professionals, Call center workers, Educators, Dangerous industry workers, High tech workers, and Shift workers) may find some useful coping strategies on Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.