February 2002 Mfg.Trust

Mfg.Trust is a monthly feature of the
            NCMS InfraGard Manufacturing Industry Association
                        Infrastructure assurance for manufacturers
                                    Powered by NCMS

This month – VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE
Can you spot trouble coming?

Accompanying Resource Page for this Story 

Editor’s Preface:

Larry Porte coauthored this month's article. Mr. Porte is a retired Secret Service Agent and expert in workplace safety and security issues. He is cooperating with NCMS to create the SAFE™ web-based training series. To introduce SAFE to NCMS Partners we will soon offer the web-based module on Workplace Violence and Safety FREE to NCMS Alliance Partners for a limited time. You will soon receive a separate email with this offer. Write me if you have any special requests about this free offer. 

The InfraGard program defines eight Critical Infrastructures: telecommunications, water, electric power, oil & gas, banking, transportation, law enforcement, and emergency services. At NCMS we also think in a positive way of a "Ninth Critical Infrastructure" - our employees. This month's feature illustrates one key element in protecting and optimizing your company's most important asset - its "Ninth Critical Infrastructure" - by showing you how to proactively deal with issues of violence in the workplace.

Most of us spend much of our time at a workplace. A safe work environment allows all of us to be more productive and happier in our employment. On the other hand, violence in the workplace can be devastating to the individual and will always be devastating to the organization. It will quickly disrupt the growth, profitability and morale of an organization. It is crucial that employees recognize the signs of violence in the workplace and understand how to act accordingly.

NCMS is dedicated to helping manufacturers develop robust systems (people, process, and technology) that assure uninterrupted production. We hope you find these resources useful both in your personal and business lives. Aware and educated private citizens are also aware and educated employees!

John Sheridan (johns@ncms.org )
PS: We have improved the capabilities of the web site (it's growing!) and done some remodeling. Take a look at http://trust.ncms.org! The responses to last month's Privacy survey are posted on the Manufacturing Trust web site. Go to the home page adn press the link called "Previous Polls"

VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

The spectrum of workplace violence ranges from offensive language, to sexual assault, to homicide. Violence is a substantial contributor to death and injury on the job. NIOSH data from 1996 indicate that homicide has become the second leading cause of occupational injury death, exceeded only by motor-vehicle-related deaths. Estimates of nonfatal workplace assaults vary dramatically, but a reasonable estimate from the National Crime Victimization Survey is that approximately 1 million people are assaulted while at work or on duty each year; this figure represents 15% of the acts of violence experienced by U.S. residents aged 12 or older. (See links below). Since the time of these reports, little has been done to stem the rising tide of workplace violence. This problem has increased to such a point that it is now making a major impact upon the productivity and revenue of North American manufacturing as a whole.

In fairness, the above survey statistics include hazardous occupations such as taxi drivers, small retail stores, police, public safety, and social service workers. More than half (56%) of workplace homicides occurred in retail trade and service industries. Homicide is the leading cause of occupational death in these industries as well as in finance, insurance, and real estate. Our readers, who principally work in industrial and office settings, may not be subject to all the risk factors that dominate workplace violence - but then who thought real estate was dangerous? Check the risks for yourself below.

Identifying Potential Risks

By identifying these factors, you may be able to avoid violence before it even starts.

Risk factors for workplace violence:

• Contact with the public
• Exchange of money
• Delivery of passengers, goods, or services
• Having a mobile workplace such as a taxicab or police cruiser
• Working with unstable or volatile persons in health care, social service, or criminal justice settings
• Working alone or in small numbers
• Working late at night or during early morning hours
• Working in high-crime areas
• Guarding valuable property or possessions
• Working in community-based settings

Risk factors associated with worker-on-worker violence:

• Disgruntled employees
• Recently terminated employees
• Employees with access to sensitive areas or data
• Unusual behavior

Types of Violence

Workplace violence can be categorized (see University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center Report, link below) into four different groups:

Type I: Criminal Intent - The perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the business or its employees, and is usually committing a crime in conjunction with the violence. These crimes include: Robbery, Shoplifting, and Trespassing. The vast majority of workplace homicides (85%) fall into this category.

Type II: Customer/Client - The perpetrator has a legitimate relationship with the business and becomes violent while being served by the business. Police officers, prison staff, flight attendants, patient caregivers, and teachers are some other examples of workers who may be exposed to this kind of workplace violence.

Type III: Worker-On-Worker - The perpetrator is an employee or past employee of the business who attacks or threatens another employee or past employee in the workplace. Worker-on-worker fatalities account for approximately 7% of all workplace violence homicides.

Type IV: Personal Relationship - The perpetrator usually does not have a relationship with the business but has a personal relationship with the intended victim. This category includes victims of domestic violence assaulted or threatened while at work.

Unlike workplace homicides (80% male victims), nonfatal workplace assaults are distributed almost equally between men and women. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) found that 61% occurred in private companies, 30% occurred among government employees, and 8% of the victims were self-employed.

PART ONE: Workplace Violence Prevention

In addition to recognizing the risk factors involved with workplace violence, you can make your workplace more secure by developing some good prevention models for both you and your organization. There are three general approaches to preventing working violence. Individuals as well as organizations may use these methods to create safer, more secure work environments:

1. Environmental
2. Organizational/Administrative
3. Behavioral/Interpersonal

Collectively, these strategies represent the complete involvement of an organization, from the divisional and departmental levels to the individual employee. The vision is that each of us should be striving toward a safe working community through continuous awareness and organized participation. In the notes below, we'll skip the cash-handling policies, and physical separation of workers from customers appropriate to retail settings, as well as the personal protective equipment appropriate to public safety personnel.

STEP 1: Creating a Safe Environment

Design a physical environment that promotes safety and security:

• Physically separate employees from customers in high-risk businesses
• Increase visibility and lighting inside and outside the place of business
• Control entrance and egress points
• Provide security devices and employees where necessary

Access control is the key (no pun intended!) to physical security. The number of entrances and exits, the ease with which anyone (including that disgruntled ex-employee or angry spouse) can gain access to work areas because doors are unlocked, and the number of areas where potential attackers can hide are issues. This issue has implications for the design of buildings and parking areas, landscaping, and the placement of garbage areas, outdoor refrigeration areas, and other storage facilities that workers must use during a work shift.

Visibility and lighting are important environmental design considerations. Making high-risk areas visible to more people and installing good external lighting should decrease the risk of workplace assaults.

Numerous security devices may reduce the risk for assaults against workers and facilitate the identification and apprehension of perpetrators. These include closed-circuit cameras, alarms, two-way mirrors, card-key access systems, panic-bar doors locked from the outside only, and trouble lights or geographic locating devices in mobile workplaces.

STEP 2: Leveraging Organizational/Administrative Controls

Develop targeted programs for safety and administrate them company-wide.

• Increase the number of staff on duty in high-risk situations
• Provide security guards or receptionists to screen persons entering
• Implement a standard cash-handling policy
• Establish a policy for reporting threats
• Promote and monitor organizational security programs

Staffing plans and work practices, such as prohibiting unsupervised movement within and between work areas may be appropriate. Increasing the number of staff on duty may also be appropriate in any number of services settings. Security experts have also suggested the use of security guards or receptionists to screen persons entering the workplace and to control access to actual work areas.

Work practices and staffing patterns during the opening and closing of establishments and during money drops and pickups should be carefully reviewed for the increased risk of assault they pose to workers.

Policies and procedures for assessing and reporting threats allow employers to track and assess threats and violent incidents in the workplace. Such policies clearly indicate a zero tolerance of workplace violence and provide mechanisms by which incidents can be reported and handled. In addition, such information allows employers to assess whether prevention strategies are appropriate and effective. These policies should also include guidance on recognizing the potential for violence, methods for defusing or de-escalating potentially violent situations, and instruction about the use of security devices and protective equipment. Procedures for obtaining medical care and psychological support following violent incidents should also be addressed. Training and education efforts are clearly needed to accompany such policies.

STEP 3: Behavioral/Interpersonal Prevention Skills

Management, HR, and the individual employee must take responsibility for safety:

• Train staff to anticipate and respond to potentially threatening situations
• Consistently reinforce safety and security guidelines
• Provide nonviolent response alternatives
• Encourage a non-hostile work environment

Training employees in nonviolent response and conflict resolution has been suggested to reduce the risk that volatile situations will escalate to physical violence. Also critical is training that addresses hazards associated with specific tasks or worksites and relevant prevention strategies. Training should not be regarded as the sole prevention strategy but as a component in a comprehensive approach to reducing workplace violence. To increase vigilance and compliance with stated violence prevention policies, training should emphasize the appropriate use and maintenance of protective equipment, adherence to administrative controls, and increased knowledge and awareness of the risk of workplace violence.

PART TWO: Reaction and Coping Strategies

Can you spot trouble coming?

Very few people wake up in the morning and just decide to commit a violent act. There are always signs of trouble in advance, and they are not subtle - to those who are aware. The violent act is always preceded by an actual or perceived negative event - the "last straw" or "triggering event."

Handling such matters with good judgment in a work setting is difficult. We may perceive an event as trivial. For someone else it is the "last straw." We don't want to interfere with another's private life, yet we would not hesitate to intervene to prevent real violence. A workplace support system can be very powerful if it permits others, perhaps professionally trained, to receive and follow up on concerns of potential violence (especially domestic violence) without inappropriate repercussions. 

Attacks are the products of understandable and often discernable processes of thinking and behavior. The can be foreseen. They are not usually a surprise to everyone in the workplace. Somebody knows. Here are the characteristics that commonly precede violence:

• Limited coping skills
• A history of violence (one of the most reliable indicators)
• The loss of ability to process appropriately, loss of reality, psychosis
• Personality changes
• Interest in weapons
• Substance abuse
• Depression

Responding to an Immediate Threat

The NIOSH Bulletin on Violence in the Workplace and the OSHA Web Site on Workplace Violence (see links below) are good sources for corporate guidance on planning, responding to an immediate threat of workplace violence, and dealing with its consequences. However, as a last word, here are some helpful tips about responding from the threat assessment protocol commonly used by the Secret Service. This may sound like common sense, but common sense is not so common!

• Take ALL threats seriously
• Investigate ALL threats immediately
• Assess the danger
• Get professional help

In Conclusion

Workplace violence affects us all. Its burden is borne not only by victims of violence, but by their co-workers, their families, their employers, and by every worker at risk of violent assault - in other words, virtually all of us. Although we know that workplace violence results in hundreds of deaths, more than a million injuries, and billions of dollars in costs every year, our understanding of workplace violence is still in its infancy.

LINKS

NIOSH Current Intelligence Bulletin 57
Violence in the Workplace. Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/violcont.html

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Web site on Workplace Violence
http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/index.html

University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center
http://www.pmeh.uiowa.edu/iprc/
Here you will find a Report to the Nation on Workplace Violence (.pdf, 330Kb)

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/violcont.html

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