Violence in the Workplace

The numbers and pronouncements about our chances of being attacked or killed while at work are scary.

Homicide reigns as the leading cause of workplace death among women. In fact, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health lists homicide as a leading cause of all work-related deaths in the United States, second only to motor vehicle crashes. More than 800 people are kill annually in American workplaces. And an estimated one million workers suffer nonfatal assaults on the job each year. The U.S. Postal Service alone reported 500 cases of employees being violent toward supervisors in a recent period of 18 months—and an additional 200 cases of supervisors acting violently toward employees. And frightening results of a recent study claim that an employee in California is more likely to be murdered at work than to die in a car accident commuting to or from work.

Part of what makes violent behavior difficult to control is that it usually comes unannounced. But most workplace killers are disgruntled former employees who have been laid off or fired or the obsessed spouse or lover of an employee. And those who kill at work, experts say, usually give off warning signals that typically include:

• following or stalking an employee to or from the place of work

• entering the workplace

• following an employee at work, and

• telephoning or sending correspondence to the employee.

Coworkers describe many individuals who have committed violence in the workplace as: loners, not team players, having a history of interpersonal conflict and displays of anger, having made threats of violence in the past, being withdrawn, showing symptoms of current drug or alcohol abuse, being argumentative and quick to blame others for their own problems and frustrations.

Both employers and employees may be able to help ward off violence by heeding these signals of disturbed souls and taking immediate action. As an employee, you should report threatening coworkers. And encourage your employer to both refer such problem coworkers to a ready source of help and tell them, in no uncertain terms, that they will be fired if their bad behavior continues.

1. Legal Developments

Realistically, employers who try to ward off violence often get caught in the conundrum of balancing employees’ safety against the rights of the potential perpetrator. On one hand, employers are charged with keeping the workplace safe. Several have been successfully sued for negligent hiring, negligent supervision, and wrongful death because they kept suspicious employees on staff who ultimately maimed or killed others on the job.

Increasingly, the pressure to act comes from victims of workplace violence and their survivors. And an increasing number of courts find employers directly liable for violence when they turn a deaf ear to workers’ complaints about inadequate security—or a blind eye to knowledge that a worker’s past actions might make him or her likely to attack coworkers and others on the job.

But employers have also felt the sting of lawsuits by employees who claim that overzealous investigations have violated laws protecting them from discrimination or invasions of their privacy.

Of late, scales are tipping in favor of keeping workplaces safe. In one recent case, for example, a Massachusetts court held that an employer, the U.S. Postal Service, was well within its rights when it fired a worker who screamed obscenities, swept the contents off a supervisor’s desk, threw a typewriter and chair, and knocked down several office partitions. The employee defended that he had an explosive personality disorder that entitled him to protection as a disabled employee rather than a pink slip. But the court held that a fundamental requirement of any job is that an employee must not be violent and destructive.

And a Florida court held recently that an employee—even one diagnosed with a chemical imbalance—could be fired on the spot for bringing a loaded gun to work.

2. Practical Prevention Steps

As reports of violence in the workplace have grown, concerned and conscientious employers and employees alike have turned to OSHA for help. While the agency has not set a specific safety standard for workplaces to follow, it has issued two sets of guidelines to help employers identify and prevent situations in workplaces with high potentials for violence: health care and social service industries and late-night retail establishments. The guidelines, which recommend setting up a violence prevention program, include five elements that may be useful for safety plans in all workplaces. If your workplace does not yet have a violence prevention program, the guidelines might serve as a starting point.

1. Management commitment and employee involvement. All violent and threatening incidents should be taken seriously—and management should develop a plan for workplace security, working with local police and other public safety agencies to improve physical security.

2. Worksite analysis. This includes identifying risk factors. For example, in retail establishments, risk factors commonly include contact with the public, exchanging money, working alone or in small numbers, and being located in a high crime area. A worksite analysis should also include a review of any past incidents, a security review, and periodic safety audits.

3. Hazard prevention and control. This includes adequate lighting, possible installation of video surveillance, drop safes, and physical barriers.

4. Training. All employees, supervisors, and security personnel should be trained to ensure awareness of potential security hazards and procedures for protecting themselves and others in the workplace.

5. Evaluation. Methods of hazard control and training needs should be evaluated—including record keeping, incident reports, police recommendations, and notes from safety meetings.

When Domestic Violence Comes to Work

In a recent survey of corporate security directors, 94% ranked the threats and battery associated with domestic violence as a high security risk in the workplace. Their feelings are justified. A full 75% of battered employees are harassed at work by their abusers—a spouse, former spouse, or member of the family or household. And, last year, there were 60,000 incidents of on-the-job violence in which those who were attacked knew their attackers intimately.

Beyond its obvious toll on human psyches, domestic violence has a huge impact on workplace productivity. For every 100 employees suffering the effects of domestic violence, 94 will take at least one extra sick day a year, over 60 will be late by more than an hour five times a month, and nearly 60 will be harassed at work on the phone by their abuser. All of this adds up to a situation where 70% of hurting, afraid, distracted, and otherwise compromised workers will have difficulty performing their jobs. And legislatures have been slow to respond to this reality. A rare exception, a California statute, provides that employers with 25 employees or more must offer domestic violence leave—reasonable time off to deal with related issues including health, counseling, safety, and housing. (Cal. Lab. Code Sec. 230.)

And a recent study of those subjected to domestic violence found that nearly 30% lost their jobs as a direct result of the abuse. Of all the other high costs associated with domestic violence, some of the most insidious from an employers’ standpoint are heightened health insurance premiums, increased workers’ compensation, and higher unemployment insurance.

The first step toward ending domestic violence is to find out the alternatives and possibilities available. If you or a coworker needs help or information on domestic violence, look in the telephone book under Crisis Intervention for local resources. Or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for information on nearby shelters, legal help, health care advocacy, and counseling: 800-799-7233 or (TDD) 800-787-3224.

Statistics from DV Initiatives, www.dvinitiative.com, 2005