For example, a person's voice may become louder and her gestures more animated when she gets excited, not necessarily because she is angry or hostile. While any kind of hostile or threatening language is not acceptable in the workplace, some language may be misinterpreted. When negotiating any kind of zero-tolerance policy with management, it is important to review the contract to determine if any workplace violence prevention policy violates any of the contract provisions or can be used by management to harass employees. D. Threat assessment teams Threat assessment teams, also called crisis intervention teams, are sometimes created by management to enforce zero-tolerance policies. Generally, the purpose of these teams is to receive, investigate, and respond to reports of threats to determine the potential for violence.
Some teams even go so far as to try to defuse a potentially violent situation.
Teams that only try to identify potentially violent situations and recommend procedures for responding to those situations may be effective in curbing internal problems of violence, as long as they don't take actions that might endanger themselves or anyone else. For a team to be effective, it should have an equal number of trained managers and union representatives. Such teams should also include mental health professionals. Without proper training and years of experience in a mental health discipline, lay people are likely to reach wrong conclusions and may put themselves and others at risk in dangerous situations. All violence prevention strategies, particularly zero-tolerance policies, should be applied equally to all levels of employees since managers and supervisors can also cause physical violence, threats and harassment.