Quote of the Month: “Always do right. This will
gratify some people and astonish the rest.”

Mark Twain

OH, BUT IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

I know you’d rather not think about it. It’s frightening and it
may seem unlikely. But with the horror of the shootings at
Northern Illinois University still fresh in our minds, I’d like you
all to recognize that violence actually could happen in your
workplace.

This was brought home to me pointedly this past week. I was
invited to be a speaker at the 2008 Business Environmental and
Safety Training (BEST) Conference in nearby Raleigh. After my
speech was over, I attended a presentation by Dr. Stephanie Jenal, a
psychologist at Duke University’s Professional and Personal
Development Program and their Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
With her permission, I would like to share with you some of what I
learned.

VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE STATISTICS

Of all violent crimes, 18% occur in the workplace. That’s
1.7 million workplace assaults. Granted, most of them are in small
convenience stores, jewelry stores, and in taxis. But there are
still a large number that occur because people attack someone with
whom they work (enraged over a real or perceived slight or
criticism, distraught over losing their job, a relatively minor
disagreement escalates, etc.) Most recent National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) figures suggest that
violence is the fourth leading cause of death in the American
workplace (after motor vehicle accidents, falls, and being struck
by an object). We all know that we hear about these types of
things in the media from time to time.

PROACTIVE ORGANIZATIONS NEED TO TRY TO PREVENT IT

It is tempting to think, “There’s nothing I can do about it. If
someone is going to snap, it’s going to happen.” That’s a defeatist
attitude. Dr. Jenal outlined a number of things organizations can
and should do. Of course each organization will have to customize
the items below to make sense for their own organizations.

(1) Establish an executive “threat assessment team” made up of a
representative of senior management, management of various
departments, human resources, EAP, legal, risk management, facility
management, public relations, and the unions.

(2) Try to heighten your awareness of individuals who are at
increased risk of committing violent acts. Look for those who are
socially isolated, exhibit lack of self-control in various
situations, have a history of confrontations or chronic disputes
with management, do a lot of complaining and blaming of others for
their problems, exhibit paranoia, demonstrate unusual interest in
accounts of workplace violence, own a gun, and may abuse
drugs/alcohol.

(3) Develop clear “zero tolerance” policies for violence in the
workplace so everyone is very clear about the consequences of
roughhousing, verbal abuse, etc.

(4) Train employees in the principles of conflict resolution.

(5) Develop a system so that people can anonymously provide
information about someone whom they fear is exhibiting signs that
could escalate to workplace violence. This confidential
information collection and evaluation system could be as simple as
a locked box or as complicated as a staffed “hot-line.”

(6) Attend to employee grievances in a timely manner. Provide a
safe way for employees to get their feelings heard before they
explode because “No one is listening to me!”

(7) Do a thorough job of pre-employment screening. And

(8) Examine termination /lay-off procedures to try to preclude
anyone from being pushed over the edge during that painful process.

MAKE SURE YOUR CRISIS PLAN ADRESSES THIS TOPIC

After twelve years of conducting my workshops around the country, I
still find the same thing. When we brainstorm the potential crises
that could bring the media and/or upset, frightened, angry people
to an organization’s door, it is a rare company that voices
workplace violence as a possibility. (Usually those who do have
actually experienced it already.)

A good crisis plan should have a section devoted to this subject.
It has to be more detailed than “Call local law enforcement and
ambulance personnel.” Of course you would do this. The
authorities will step in and do what they are supposed to in terms
of tending to the injured and trying to capture the perpetrator.
That’s not your job. Your job is to (1) personally reach out to
the victims’ families to offer any kind of support you can (getting
them to the hospital, staying with them for moral support, etc.)
and (2) caring for the rest of your employees who are traumatized
(allowing them to take the rest of the day off, arranging for grief
counselors to come in so they can talk about their fears and
emotions, etc.).

DO A THOROUGH DE-BRIEFING

After the immediate incident is over, you need to review your
procedures and policies to see if there is something you might have
done differently to prevent it. Look at those items numbered above
to see if you neglected to do as good a job in one of them as you
should have. Review your security procedures. Do you need to limit access
to the office more rigorously (swiping badges or installing locks
with coded keypads, etc.)? Your employees — and maybe even the
media or the general public — will be looking to see if you made
any improvements to try to minimize the chance that this could
happen again.

Certainly I hope that this type of tragedy never happens to you
and your organization. But it is not in anyone’s best interests to
put your head in the sand about it. The cartoon above my desk
which shows an ostrich with its head in the sand has a thought
bubble reading, “Nothing bad can happen to me.” But it also shows
a lightning bolt coming out of the sky, aiming right for her
posterior. The caption reads, “When you insist on burying your
head in the sand, most of your anatomy is left exposed!”

This topic is too broad to cover in a short e-zine. If you would
like to learn more about it, go to www.workviolence.com.

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UNTIL NEXT MONTH — Keep cool!