Workplace Violence

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

July 21, 2006 was a day just like any other. Elartrice “Marcell” Ingram reported to work at 8:00 a.m. as usual. His associate in the seafood department reported everything was fine with no evidence of trouble, but by the end of the day Elartrice had stabbed seven coworkers at the Cordova Schnucks in Memphis, TN. He was found guilty by reason of insanity and a little over a year later his doctors testify that he is ready to be released with family supervision. His victims still have concern that it has not been long enough and that he may snap again. Is this considered to be workplace violence?

In 2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina an employee who admitted to his family that he had been harassed by his associates became irritated when he was fired and returned to work and killed two of his coworkers. Do we consider this violence in the workplace?

Any day, any job, imagine you are sitting at your desk and you over hear two coworkers arguing. When they notice others observing they retreat and go back to their work with no resolution to the situation. Does this situation appear to be workplace violence?

There are things we believe we know about workplace violence but are only myths. Dennis Davis, president of the Help Center in Vista, California spoke about some of the myths in a SHRM’s Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas in June of 2007.

Myth Realization

Random & Unpredictable Violence grows in cycles вЂ" there are signs

People can be pushed into anything Frustration is the root cause вЂ" nonviolent people will not harm you

Verbal threats are “Just Talk” People in control don’t make threats

Crazy people commit violent acts Only 5% of very disturbed are violent

As we look beyond the myths we find that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health defined workplace violence in 1991 as:

any physical assault, threatening behavior or verbal abuse occurring

in the work setting. These violent acts include homicide, forcible sex

offenses, kidnapping, assault, robbery, menacing, reckless endangerment, harassment, disorderly conduct, berating language, physical or verbal

threats or vandalism of personal property.

Most incidents are not recorded so it is difficult to determine exactly how many there are, but when we look at who is vulnerable we find that over two million American workers experience violence in the workplace. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. Some of the areas that are at risk are high stress environments, places that involve the public, and places where money is handled. An analysis of where workplace violence occurs by the Labor Department revealed the statistics below.

Taxi Driving 23%

Tavern/Liquor Stores 19%

Convenience Stores 17%

Fast Food Restaurants 12%

Health Care Facilities 10%

Business Offices 6%

Government Offices 5%

Police Work 4%

Post Office 3%

School 1%

Source: O’Connor (1997)

Mishandling of terminations, changes in behavior, making common threats, conflicts with employees, emotional outburst and history of frequency job changes have been identified as indicators by the FBI as onsets of workplace violence. The Government leaves it up to the employers to provide a safe working environment for all employees. Their responsibility involves setting up and utilizing a workplace violence prevention policy. Peggy Lawless, a research director for the National Life Insurance Co. provides the following steps to prevent workplace violence.

• Create a supportive work environment in which violence isn’t tolerated.

• Develop Managers that respect workers.

• Train supervisors to recognize signs of a troubled employee.

• Provide personal counseling for workers.

• Establish procedures for handling grievances.

• Allow employees control to help reduce stress.

• Train managers and employees to resolve conflict in a peaceful manner.

• Implement security programs that protect employees from internal and

external risk.

• Provide counseling for the laid-off employees.

• Set up a crisis management plan.

Once the program is set up within the company each of us has a responsibility to help keep the