CRITICAL INCIDENTS AND THE WORKPLACE

Organizations are increasingly aware of the workplace impact of traumatic events, whether the incident occurred at the worksite or outside of it. Events such as a sudden death at work, an act of violence, or catastrophic natural disasters, can alter the normal routine of the office, lab, factory or construction site. Employees may be so impacted by their emotional responses to these incidents that they have difficulty performing their jobs. The EAP is available to come to the worksite to provide a multifaceted response for both individual employees and the work group.

Mount Auburn Hospital EAP has a Critical Incident response team made up of staff clinicians. Following a significant workplace incident or trauma, a manager or supervisor can call the EAP to speak to a team member, who will perform an immediate assessment and develop an action plan best suited to the situation.

Interventions may include a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing held onsite at the company. A CISD is a specific, structured process to address traumatic events, in which personnel are invited to participate in a group discussion about the event and its impact on them, as well as to identify ways to cope with the impact of the event. It can be particularly effective as one part of a process to assist individuals in their responses to the incident.

Our staff is highly experienced in working with our client companies to address difficult workplace events. Immediately following the events of September 11, 2001, the Mount Auburn Hospital EAP proactively met the needs of our clients. Before the end of that day, we had emergency information posted on our website and emailed to our client companies. In the weeks that followed we provided two dozen onsite CISD sessions for employee groups. Later, we worked with these same companies to help managers and supervisors be better prepared to address workplace emergencies.

The Mount Auburn Hospital EAP also provides fact sheets on traumatic stress reactions, tips for managers, individual and group counseling. In addition, we reach out to the household members of employees, who may also feel the impact of workplace events. Individuals can call the EAP and speak with a counselor 24/7.

In addition, the Mount Auburn Hospital EAP can help companies better prepare for such events through consultation with Human Resources for policy development and training for managers and supervisors.

For detailed information and specific resources, go to CRITICAL INCIDENT RESPONSE.

Back to Employer Services
Home