Workplace Violence and Incident Management
It is broader than a stranger with a gun
Workplace violence includes threats, harassment, intimidation, and physical acts. Common categories: violence by a criminal outsider such as a robber, by a customer or client, by a coworker, and by someone with a personal relationship to an employee - the last is often hardest to see, and domestic violence frequently spills into the workplace.
Warning signs and reporting
Behavioral indicators include threats, fascination with weapons, escalating hostility, paranoia, sudden performance decline, and talk of 'making them pay.' No single sign predicts violence, but each is reportable. Report to your supervisor and the designated threat-assessment or HR contact; document what was said, when, and to whom. Do not promise confidentiality you cannot keep, and do not investigate on your own.
Response
If a situation escalates: keep distance and an exit, use calm non-threatening language, avoid arguing or cornering, and call for help. For an active threat, follow your training - avoid, deny, defend - and your site's lockdown procedure. Afterward, secure the scene, preserve evidence, account for people, and join the debrief.
Traps
Dismissing 'just talk' as harmless, treating a restraining order as a complete shield, assuming HR alone owns the problem, and confronting a subject alone to 'handle it quietly.'
Rule of thumb
See something, say something, write it down. Early, documented reporting is the single most useful thing an officer does.