Book excerpt: Respond quickly and effectively to workplace trauma For years, employee assistance programs have been providing critical incidence stress management services to employees who have been involved in, or witness to, workplace fatalities and accidents that are likely to traumatize workers and affect quality of work and increase sick leave and health claims. Workplace Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Management presents successful strategies for rapid response to episodes of workplace violence, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism that have become all-too-common occurrences in the workplace. Workplace Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Management is a must read for professionals in the business of providing crisis response services and for employers responsible for planning and coordinating organizational responses to disasters. This unique book presents first-hand accounts from EAP program managers, Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) professionals, and crisis managers on their trauma response techniques and from health professionals involved in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. Workplace Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Management examines: similar and dissimilar experiences of EAP professionals in responding to large scale traumatic events using military models in trauma response managing trauma in the South African mining industry trauma response techniques in high risk work settings compassion fatigue among professional helpers how various types of industries handle critical incidents EAP responses to natural disasters repetitious violence in the workplace organizational crisis intervention and much more Workplace Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Management also includes Bern Beidel’s first-person account as EAP Director for the United States House of Representatives of the response to anthrax contamination in mailrooms and office buildings in the nation’s capital.