Table 4.

Attributes of included guidance.

Authors, Date & Title	Location	Type of Article	Setting	Aims	Evidence Base	Guidance/ Recommendations
Vanderpol & Beyer (2019) [60]	US	Guidance	Construction industry	To share perspectives, strategies, resources, and tools to help contractors respond appropriately to a colleague suicide.	Draws on existing knowledge and guidance. No reference list or evidence base cited.	Defines postvention. Presents key points for critical incident management and strategies to support colleagues following a suicide. Q&A with the authors. Signposts to support websites and articles.
Leading a company in the aftermath of a suicide loss
Berkowitz et al. (2014) [33]	US	Guidance (book chapter)	Organisations	Not stated	Draws on existing literature.	Concludes: Organisational postvention is recommended, but guidance is sparse. Various factors complicate the work. Postvention should be an evolving process that attends to the guidelines and principles in this chapter. Longitudinal and comparative studies are needed. Qualitative studies are needed to understand need and inform postvention interventions.
Organizational postvention after suicide death
Austin & McGuinness (2012) [32] Console & The Irish Hospice Foundation	Ireland	Guidance	The workplace	To help organisations increase their understanding and confidence in responding to workplace suicide.	Presents case studies but does not cite sources, so they could be fictionalised. Cites three references.	Provides guidance for employee suicide on-site and off-site, when an employee is affected by the suicide of someone close and when a former employee dies by suicide. Guidance also provided for developing a bereavement policy for dealing with suicide. Signposts to suicide support organisations.
Breaking the silence in the workplace: A guide for employers on responding to suicide in the workplace
The workplace postvention taskforce of the American Association of Suicidology & the workplace taskforce of the national alliance for suicide prevention. In partnership with the Carson J Spenser Foundation & Crisis Care Network. (2013) [61]	US	Guidance	The workplace	Not stated	Cites a source for their definition of postvention. Cites the Individual Differences Models (Mancini & Bonanna, 2009), the ACT Model (VandePol, 2003) and the CDC definitions of ‘suicide’ ‘suicide attempt’ and ‘suicidal ideation’. However, no evidence base cited to underpin the guidance.	Defines postvention. Presents a three-phase (acute, recovery, reconstructing) approach to delivery. Provides sample comms memos; signposts to resources; provides a decision-making flow-chart.
A manager’s guide to suicide postvention in the workplace: Ten action steps for dealing with the aftermath of a suicide.
Kinman & Torry (2020) [28] Supporting Occupational Health and Wellbeing Professionals & The Louise Tebboth Foundation.	UK	Guidance	Primary healthcare	Guidelines intended to inform a flexible crisis management strategy that provides information and support to primary care practices at different stages following a colleague suicide. May also be useful to similar small organisations.	In-depth interviews with GPs who have experienced a co-worker suicide, as well as contributions from other stakeholders. Interviews analysed by two researchers independently. A grounded theory approach was used where themes were identified and expanded until saturation. Full list of references included.	Presents postvention guidance for the first day, first week, first month, and longer term. Guidance is presented alongside participant quotes. Presents an Actions Needed summary table. Signposts to other resources.
Responding to the death by suicide of a colleague in primary healthcare: A postvention framework
Business in the Community; The Prince’s Responsible Business Network; Public Health England; Samaritans (2017). [62]	UK	Guidance	The workplace	Toolkit to help organisations consider the issues that arise from workplace suicide; mitigate the impact of suicide; design a relevant postvention protocol.	Includes case studies from named organisations but does not cite these as underpinning evidence. No evidence base or references included.	Presents chronological guidance: Be prepared When suicide happens Grieving, post-traumatic phase Legacy phase Reflection time Includes signposts to resources and case studies.
Crisis management in the event of a suicide: A postvention toolkit for employers.
Samaritans & Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (2021). [63]	UK	Guidance	Ambulance service	To help ambulance services, particularly leaders in HR and frontline managers, manage the impact of an employee suicide or attempted suicide on colleagues.	Cites six references that explore: mental health problems among UK ambulance workers; paramedic perceptions of distress, stigma, and utilisation of support services; mental health in the ambulance service; effects of exposure to self-harm on social media study; effects of educative suicide prevention websites; contagion.	Presents chronological guidance: Be prepared Communicating after a suicide When suicide happens Grieving, post-traumatic phase Legacy phase Reflection time Further information and resources.
Ambulance service employee suicide: A postvention toolkit to help manage the impact and provide support.