April 2004 Mfg.Trust

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

This month – ANTICIPATING VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

See the Resources Page for this Story 

Editor's Preface:

Violent acts continue to rank among the top three causes of workplace fatalities for all workers. It is not just the all-night convenience store workers and taxi cab drivers who are at risk from armed robbery. Your friends in the office and factory may become victims of violence, sometimes violence that was not aimed specifically at them.

This month’s feature revisits on of our most commented-on topics. Violence in the Workplace was originally produced by NCMS in February 2002. That earlier article was coauthored by Larry Porte, a retired Secret Service Agent and expert in workplace safety and security issues. He cooperated with NCMS to create the SAFE web-based training series. SAFE is still an excellent resource for your company, and inexpensive enough to provide to each employee. See http://products.ncms.org/safe.htm to learn more.

As usual, the Resources page that accompanies this article offers a rich information set for more study. See http://trust.ncms.org (Publications Index tab). We also included a link to the February 2002 resources.

Editor

ANTICIPATING VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

Overview

There were four types of “workplace violence” defined in our February 2002 article. Defending against criminal intent is a completely different issue than defending against attacks on workers by people who are most likely well known to them, and may be co-workers. This article deals with the latter. Our premise here is straightforward.

Workplace violence grows out of escalating patterns of aggressive behavior that employees and managers must be trained to recognize and stop.

Achieving the Desired Result

The desired result of your program to recognize and stop workplace violence might be described as “corporate situational awareness.” Yet, this sort of awareness demands great skill. Such skill may be at odds with the other reasons that you select your supervisors and managers. Here are some helpful approaches.

An excellent article in Security Management magazine (see Resources) suggests a large company approach: “Many large organizations have a threat assessment team composed of a pool of talent from across the organization that typically includes security, human resources, the employee assistance program (EAP), and inside or outside counsel. The benefit of having this type of team is that typically no one person or department has all the critical information needed to accurately assess a situation; by working together, the team members are more likely to come to the right assessment.”

The smaller company leader is faced with some important tasks to prevent workplace violence. Here, Larry Porte’s previous recommendations (see Mfg.Trust Feb 02 for detail) are relevant:

• Identify potential risks
• Create a safe environment
• Use Organizational Controls:
  • Promote security programs
  • Establish a policy for reporting threats
  • Establish work practices that address security
• Clearly articulate a policy of zero tolerance of workplace violence
• Recognize the people in your organization with the right empathic skills and common sense, and developing a constructive relationship with them and among them;
• Educate and sensitize all employees to the issues.

Reaction and Coping Strategies

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 Security Magazine article describes a “H-A-R-M” model of escalating violence: harassment, aggression, rage, and mayhem. Larry Porte points out that 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.

 

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.

Conclusion

Some succinct words of advice from Larry Porte:

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

LINKS

http://trust.ncms.org select ‘Publications Index’ tab to find:
February 2002 Mfg.Trust – Violence in the Workplace

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

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