In the past, I have been involved in designing professional standards for mediators around this issue. I've also written articles on how to make mediation safe, particularly in connection with judicial dispute resolution.
I'll go back to the first step that has to occur there, and that's adequate screening. Before one can make a referral to dispute resolution, and before one can design a dispute resolution process that's safe, one really needs to know what the dynamics are in terms of power imbalance, in terms of level of fear, and in terms of capacity to negotiate on an equal basis. You really need to know a fair amount about that before you can design a process that's safe.