Intimate partner violence and stalking are global public health issues, with at least one in three women and one in six men being a target of such violence at some point during their lifetime (WHO 2013; BRÅ, 2014). Victims of such violence report increased rates of mental ill-health in addition to the social, financial, and physical costs of victimization (Diette et al., 2014; Hansen et al., 2010; Korkodeilou, 2017; Sheridan & Scott, 2010). Relationship violence can intrude into the victim´s workplace, further impacting upon the victim, presenting a liability for companies, and creating the potential for harm to a wider range of people.
Minimizing the impact of such violence requires an understanding of the nature of risk involved in each case, and what kinds of risk management may be most effective. This can be informed by the use of risk assessment tools, however, different organizations often use different tools, leading to different results or emphases. This in turn can interfere with effective communication and the development of good risk management plans. This presentation will introduce the RISKSAM, a framework designed to facilitate collaboration and communication about risk and risk management among different groups within or between organizations. The RISKSAM was developed from the presenter´s research with police agencies in both Sweden and Australia (Belfrage & Strand, 2012; McEwan et al., 2017; Petersson & Strand 2019; Strand & Storey, 2019), and is currently being used and evaluated in a Swedish social services department. This presentation will describe the need for and development of the RISKSAM based on our previous work with police, and present a case study of its use by a security agency in a case in which IPV created risk concerns within the victim´s workplace.