Finland Times

 

File Photo Lehtikuva.

Encountering aggressive and violent people at workplace is a problem for professionals, experts said.

 

Satu Rantaeskola, a senior teacher at the Police University College, and Jari Hyyti, a psychology lecturer, who have collaborated in writing a guide dealing with tackling threatening situations involving customers, in their views, pointed out the threatening atmosphere in different professions.

 

Working in the police department, social work and healthcare sectors are traditionally seen as high-risk occupations. 

 

Furthermore, people who work alone and those who work in services involving handling valuable goods are often faced with threatening situations.

 

File Photo Lehtikuva.

Similarly, people who deliver newspapers, bus drivers and kiosk vendors encounter threatening people during the course of their work.

 

Experts at the Police University College hope students pursuing professions categorised as high-risk would be trained in dealing with aggressive customers during the course of their studies before getting into employment.

 

“There are, however, occupations that do not call for specified qualifications. In those cases, the responsibility of training workers lies entirely on the employer,” Rantaeskola points out.

 

File Photo Lehtikuva.

The positive side, according to the two experts, is that employers in different sectors are actively seeking on their own initiatives ensuring safety training for their employees. 

 

“The experience is that as a threatening situation occurs, awareness increases and this training is sought,” says Hyyti.