Have you checked the Suzy Lamplugh Trust website? They are experts in large parts of what you are looking at and have bucket loads of information. We have a reasonably robust lone worker safety policy in place (I say reasonable, as there is always room for improvement). All lone workers have to diarise their movements so that key staff are aware of where they are and when they are likely to be back. (Fully charged) mobile phones are a pre-requisite when lone working away from base. Duress code - a discreet, brief message that can be used via a phone to raise the alarm if a lone worker feels threatened. All staff are aware of what this phrase is and that it must ALWAYS be acted on immediately. Panic alarms (within premises and personal alarms for lone working).

999?

SDJ You wrote: 'corporate "managing violence & aggression at work" policy and have reached the stage where I am now ready to consider how incidents of work-related violence & aggression should be responded to.' A policy involves far, far more than 'responding' to violence and aggression - it starts with a valid assessment of the risks and design of appropriate controls, that comply with your company's legal responsibilities. You can find relevant research in 'Work-related violence', edited by P Leather and others, published by Routledge, 1999. Chapter 2 outlines the legal framework. This explains in plain language the variety of predictable triggers of violence and aggression, which need to be identified and their probably calculated in order to write a policy including appropriately thorough preventieve actions as well as responses. Many triggers are cumulative and originate in psychological stress that may be defused with appropriate risk management