Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, many mediators have returned to conducting in-person processes. For some, it provides a better sense of what is happening in the room, feels more comfortable, frees them from the constraints of technology, or offers a better opportunity to build rapport. Whatever the reason for conducting mediation in person, now is an excellent time to consider how to provide a physically safe mediation process. Fortunately, “Guidance for Physically Safe Conflict Resolution: A Bias Resistant Approach” (“Guidance” or “Safety Guidance”), promulgated by the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) in 2025, provides a wealth of information to support that endeavor.
Why Is Safety Important for Mediators?
Mediators have an understandable interest in their own safety. They are also concerned with the safety of participants and individuals located near a mediation. Mediators, whether new or experienced, can readily imagine what could go wrong when people in conflict come together.
The Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (“Model Standards”) articulate an expectation that mediators will provide a safe environment. Standard VI says in part, “A mediator shall conduct a mediation in accordance with these standards and in a manner that promotes diligence, timeliness, safety, presence of the appropriate parties…” (Note: All American Arbitration Association mediators are required to follow the Model Standards. See, e.g., AAA Commercial Mediation Procedures and Costs, Section M-4.)
Additionally, mediators might have experienced a safety issue, heard about unsafe situations from other mediators, or read about mediation situations that turned violent. Any of these can raise safety concerns.
Here are some real-life examples from mediators:
- I was partway through my opening statement when a witness walked in, removed his jacket, and was wearing a shoulder holster with a gun.
- I thought one party had left, but they had circled back around to the other party’s caucus room, and there was a fistfight happening between two of the parties.
- There is a weapon screening device in the lobby of my building, but security let a party bring in a gun because he was a police detective.
- As I was escorting a group to their caucus room, one of the parties passed out in the hallway.
Most mediators could probably add personal experiences to this list.
Why Is the Safety Guidance Important?
The Safety Guidance provides a rational framework for mediators to consider what safety issues they might encounter and decide in advance what to do. Making such a plan can prepare mediators, calm their fears, and reduce the likelihood of harm.
At 14 pages, the Guidance goes a long way to augment what mediators were taught about safety during their initial mediator training, which might have amounted to, “sit near the door.” Although some trainers cover safety in more depth, the Guidance provides more detail than is typically available in mediator training.
Note: In the context of the Guidance, safety refers to more than avoiding or responding to violent situations. It includes preparation for times when a participant falls ill, a natural disaster strikes, fire erupts, the power goes out, or other dangerous situations arise.
Spoiler Alert: It’s All about Planning
No magic elixir will prevent all safety issues. The take-home message of the Safety Guidance is that when mediators make safety plans, they are prepared for issues when they do arise. A safety plan provides a list of protections and procedures to maintain a safe environment or respond to issues that threaten safety.
If a mediator has not thought through what to do when an unsafe situation erupts in a mediation, they are in the position of being reactive in a crisis situation. That is not the time to find out whether anyone in the office knows how to do CPR or whether the mediator’s assistant has recognized a dangerous situation and called the police.
Overview of the Safety Guidance
The heart of the Guidance is presented in three sections:
General Safety Protocols
The largest section is devoted to the planning decisions about the mediation space, communications, training, and weapons. It includes guidance about emergency situations such as natural disasters and health crises as well as reminders about serving individuals with disabilities.
Process Safety Protocols
This section covers strategies related to the mediation process, not the environment. They include conducting individual meetings prior to a mediation, adjusting the mediation process as needed for particular situations, and deciding whether or not to mediate before the mediation begins and whether to terminate a mediation during the mediation process.
Addressing Challenging Behaviors
This section addresses skills and approaches that mediators should be prepared to execute: establishing boundaries and using appropriate de-escalation techniques.
General Safety Protocols
The Guidance provides detailed checklists of issues to consider in developing a safety plan. The following are some highlights from the Guidance:
Site Safety
What are the elements of the physical location, e.g., hallways, restrooms, and elevators?
How do communication systems work, e.g., panic buttons, landline, internet, and cell service?
Meeting Room Safety
Are there items that could be used as weapons?
Can sound carry from the mediation and caucus rooms?
Seating Arrangements
Can the mediator leave quickly if needed?
Is there room for everyone to move around easily?
Assistance by Other People
Is there someone nearby who is not involved in the mediation, who is familiar with the safety plan and knows what to do in an emergency?
Protocols for Emergency Situations
What is the safest way for participants to exit the building separately? Is the exit workable for people with disabilities?
Emergency Communications Plan
Are there code words for potential safety situations?
Does everyone know what the code words mean, how they will be communicated, and what to do when they hear them?
Weapons Policy
The Safety Guidance allots considerable attention to the question of weapons in mediation. In brief, the Guidance states that because a weapon can enable a participant to turn a mediation violent or even deadly, mediators should establish “no weapons” policies.
The Guidance addresses issues such as:
- The potential for improvised weapons, such as swinging a cane or throwing a backpack
- Screening for weapons
- Mediators who believe not allowing guns impinges on their constitutional rights and those of the participants
- Participants whose employers expect them to be armed
Process Safety Protocols
The Guidance is intended to serve any conflict resolution process, not just mediation, so some of the Guidance overlaps with, or builds on, mediation best practices.
Individual Preliminary Meetings
Mediators should have a list of questions they ask during preparatory meetings with each party. For example, mediators should ask about any safety concerns and behavioral issues in these meetings. The Guidance recommends limiting these questions to behaviors, and not asking about disabilities, including mental health diagnoses or neurodivergence.
As the Guidance says, “Safety and access considerations are closely linked.” Mediators should ask about how best to ensure everyone’s access to and participation in the mediation. For people with disabilities, access can also be a safety concern.
Process Adjustments
The Guidance offers suggestions about how mediators might adjust the process for safety concerns. These include holding a mediation in a courthouse that has security, conducting the mediation via videoconference, having a party bring a support person, or working with a co-mediator. A mediator might also use tactics such as staggered arrivals and departures and separate waiting rooms.
Decision to Not Mediate or to Terminate Mediation
Mediators should be aware of their limitations and only accept cases they are qualified to mediate. Along with that, they need to ensure that their decisions to not mediate or terminate a mediation session are based on uniform criteria, rather than on a participant’s physical or mental health diagnosis, and do not profile any groups. Planning for what types of cases a mediator will handle and what criteria they will use in terminating mediations helps avoid making any decisions based on a protected class status.
Addressing Challenging Behaviors
Establish Boundaries
It is useful for a mediator to think about what they will and will not accept prior to a mediation. It is more useful when the mediator also thinks through what they will do when confronted with a boundary-crossing event.
Use Appropriate De-Escalation Techniques
The Guidance describes a collection of tactics that a mediator can use to help a party de-escalate. Some are physical, such as separating a party from others and keeping a barrier between the mediator and the party. Others are specific advice such as not telling a party to “calm down” or “relax.” Many are reminders to use skills from a mediator’s standard toolkit such as active listening, emotional labeling, and summarizing.
What Is “A Bias-Resistant Approach”?
As the Guidance says, “All conflict resolvers expect a certain amount of disruptive behavior during a mediation – yelling, insults, or going off on a tangent.” Individual mediators will respond to (potential) issues with varying levels of concern, based, for example, on their personalities, professional training, and personal experiences.
At times, however, it can be challenging to draw the line between personal variation and unfair bias. The subtitle – “A Bias-Resistant Approach” – highlights the potential for mediators to act from their instincts, rather than their rational brains, when confronted with a potentially unsafe situation. While gut instincts can be useful when identifying threatening situations, the “gut” is also where biases – both conscious and unconscious – can live.
The Guidance offers advice about how to draw that distinction and operate from a position that reduces the chance of bias. It includes:
- Notice when you are responding to feelings or intuitions, as compared to your well-considered process.
- Distinguish your feelings from what your professional role is and what a fair procedure would be.
- Remember that your gut could be right. Follow the fair procedures you planned, but also consider whether your instincts suggest additional factors that may be relevant to the situation.
- Acknowledge when your emotions take over. While this can be difficult during a mediation, it is useful to debrief your mediation, including your own emotional responses, after the mediation concludes.
Final Thoughts
Writing a safety plan and then filing it away is of limited use. Mediators need to ensure that everyone around the mediation is trained on it and retrained regularly. Depending on the situation, that might include everyone from on-site security personnel to office mates to the receptionist who gives out keys to the restrooms. The plan should be reviewed for any needed updates at least annually.
For all the Guidance offers, it is important to remember that it only addresses physical safety in conflict resolution processes. The Guidance does not cover psychological safety. It does not address how to make ADR processes accessible to people with disabilities, who have neurodivergence or who experience other accessibility needs. It leaves to others the task of providing guidance about other harmful dynamics, including the impact of domestic abuse or protecting safety in online processes.
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N.B. Members of the Safety Task Force (see list in the Guidance) are available to make presentations on safety in ADR. Contact Susan Yates, the author of this article and a member of the Safety Task Force, at susan@susanyatesllc.com.