Safety skills of mental health workers: empirical evidence of a risk management strategy.

To reduce violence in the workplace, health care facilities invest time and resources in risk management strategies such as photo identification and controlled access and surveillance. Studies of assaultive psychiatric patients continue to document that mental health workers (MHWs) are the most frequent targets of the patient violence. Unexamined in these findings is the role skilled MHWs contribute in restoring safety and order in the aftermath of these assaults. This six-year, empirical retrospective study examined the safety skills of MHWs in containing violence. Although they were 28% of the workforce, MHWs restored order in the majority of single assault incidents and restraint procedures. Their skills appear to be a risk management strategy in their own right. The implications are discussed.