Prevent Disruptive Behaviors at Work from Escalating

To faculty, staff and trainees of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, Johns Hopkins HealthCare and Johns Hopkins Home Care Group
Dear Colleagues:

A great place to work is a safe place to work. You have a role in ensuring that Johns Hopkins is both.

Increasingly, improper conduct enters the workplace and causes disruption. You may notice a range of disruptive behaviors, such as inappropriate and disrespectful actions, bullying, or verbal threats. Safe at Hopkins has developed a proactive way to think about, talk about, and manage these behaviors. It is important to understand that concerning behaviors left unchecked can escalate into violence.

The Johns Hopkins Continuum of Disruptive Behaviors at Work includes eight categories of disruptive behaviors based on actions experienced in risk assessment cases at Johns Hopkins. This tool is part of a new initiative called Prevent Disruptive Behaviors at Work from Escalating, an effort to prevent workplace violence. For a complete description of the disruptive behaviors and associated actions, visit safeathopkins.org/continuum-disruptive-behaviors.

The Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System have adopted policies on workplace safety that call for zero tolerance of violent behaviors, threats, bullying and intimidation. And Johns Hopkins will not permit employment-based retaliation against anyone who, in good faith, brings a complaint for disruptive behavior or act of violence, or who speaks as a witness in the investigation of a complaint.

We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the Prevent Disruptive Behaviors at Work from Escalating brochures found at safeathopkins.org/continuum-disruptive-behaviors. If you sense something, please say something. If you don't, maybe no one else will.

For more information about preventing workplace violence or to consult with the Workplace Risk Assessment program manager, please email safeathopkins@jhmi.edu.

Sincerely,

Pamela Paulk
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins Health System

Charlene Moore Hayes
Vice President for Human Resources
The Johns Hopkins University