Bullying Workplace * Preventing Workplace Violence

Making a Commitment To Preventing Workplace Violence

Workplace Violence has increased over the past two years despite federal statistics to the contrary, a majority of senior executives responsible for human resources or security said in an April 2005 survey.

Very interesting considering that the Pinkerton Report on Top Security Threats in 2003 rated Workplace Violence as the number 1 Workplace Security Threat. And, the American Society of Safety Engineers in their May 2004 Workplace Violence Survey disclosed that out of 755 respondents or 56% said they had established or revised their workplace violence prevention programs since their Fall 1998 survey. Interesting, yet a consistent challenge. The latest FBI Crime Report depicts violent crime on the upswing an observation with glaring ramifications in the workplace. Yet, businesses do not seem to place Workplace Violence Prevention and Awareness on their TOP LIST of hot items. I wonder why? Could the answer dwell in the perception of the upfront cost? Alternatively, the parties responsible for providing leadership and direction have too much on their plates already. I tend to know that those responsible care but the budgets do not support their needs. "Pay me now or pay me later".

To deemphasize the concern or dismiss it reality and the potential disasters would be irresponsible. All available data suggest that Workplace Violence continues to remain on the top three lists of concerns for executives, security directors and those responsible for its prevention. According to the Pinkerton Report, "Workplace Violence continues to be the foremost concern of corporate security directors. The threat has ranked first or near the top of the list in each of Pinkerton's previous annual survey. Workplace Violence has held first place for the last five years and for six of the past seven years". Therefore, either we do or we do not have a real threat to the safety and security of the workplace. Factor in the threat from our domestic terrorist and the possibilities are overwhelming. In the Business & Legal Report, September 21, 2005 edition, Paul Viollis, President of Risk Control Strategies made a presentation at the National Safety Council's Congress & Expo on the topic of Workplace Violence. He said, "With all the available data on workplace violence, no employer can claim credibly that it had no idea of the risk of workplace violence, including domestic violence." He further said, "Employers and safety managers must mitigate the risk of workplace violence by maintaining a "standard of care," which includes having a comprehensive policy on workplace violence, training employees on what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior at work and adhering to best practices of security and access control." Because of these concerns, I got all or most of my gray hair worrying about Mr. Viollis' very points and the little to no attention it seems to receive in the small to midsize business community until something happens. Therefore, in this edition, I will offer suggestions on Developing Your Workplace Violence Prevention Programs. <[>Why the Concern...?

From a business perspective, Workplace Violence is debilitating

at a minimum and disastrous at worst. If one were to assume that the annual cost of Tort Claims is indirectly tied to workplace violence, Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "America's small businesses bear a huge liability for Tort Claims. The annual cost of the tort system to U.S. businesses (large and small) is $129 billion. Small businesses with $10 million or less in annual revenue bear 68% of that cost, paying $88 billion a year. There are over 4.5 million U.S. small businesses with $10 million or less in annual revenue. A small business with a $10 million annual revenue pays about $150,000 a year in tort liability costs - money that could be used to hire additional employees. Very small businesses with $1 million or less annual revenue bears 26% of the business cost, paying $33 billion a year. They pay 44% of their liability costs, $15 billion dollars in out-of-pocket through the business, and not through insurance. There are about 3.8 million U. S. small businesses with $1 million or less in annual revenue. Therefore, in deducing that a portion of these liabilities are Employment Related Liabilities, let me further assume that workplace violence is the culprit. The vicarious liability damages are suffocating with jury and non-jury awards ranging from $300 hundred thousand dollars to 4 millions depending on the category of business. (Note: Dollar amounts vary depending on the source.)
If one were to extrapolate the tort liability costs of workplace violence and surmise that petty workplace incidents left uncorrected escalate into more aggravating acts of violence than a solution would be an investment in education and an emphasis on the prevention of minor incidents through timely reporting. Thus, addressing the contributory factors, which lead to escalation and by showing how the behavior when left unabated adversely affects the businesses bottom line and future employment. Key to changing the culture is connecting the incidents to the loss of revenue as you assess and respond to the complaints and the need to address victim concerns. Therefore, a disruptive act of violence can theoretically and literally put a "business out of business". The metrics are based on costs associated with lower productivity, reduced profitability, poor morale, reduced performance, increased absenteeism, higher sick leave costs and faster personnel turnover, increased employee grievances, investigative resources on time spent reviewing and reporting and an increase in compensation claims and EAP Support. Of critical concern is the affect of business interruption and continuity costs related to the crime scene and the incidents disruptive features. There is also is the real possibility of a civil court award for failing to provide a safe workplace incident to serious injuries and/or death in the workplace by an employee or armed robbery. The culprit is the "Permissive Environment".
Developing Your Workplace Violence Prevention Program...
When developing your workplace violence prevention program,
certain steps in the suggested process are required if one is to
validate the actions to be taken. Key to the program's success is the connection between low morale, reduced performance and production, higher employee turnover, increased days off and time away from the workplace. Additionally, employees must be informed on the expected behavior, their individual responsibility, leader accountability and consequences for misconduct. Any concerted effort should be directly correlated to accountability and consequences to show how failure to report, document and hold accountable has a ripple affect on the business. No longer can employees sit by without any consequences for a lack of responsibility. Courts have held that in cases where respondeat superior are issues that employees can be called upon to corroborate the existence of contributing factors and conditions attributed to the injury or fatality.
As such, any initial program must aggressively endeavor to address the intent of the program, how it will be managed, the benefits and the value both employees and employer.
- Identify a need for the workplace violence prevention policy.
- Form a committee to collect all of the security related business
requirements that affect the business.
- Use the committee to create the written security policy to
include hiring, termination, rules for acceptable behavior and reporting procedures.
rules for progressive disciplinary action and the role of
leaders in the process.
- Conduct a Critical Vulnerability Risk Assessment of the
business requirements and practices.
- Publish and implement the security policy.
- Train the workforce on workplace violence prevention, security
awareness and accountability.
- Create your threat assessment and crisis management teams.
- Test, improve, measure compliance and measure the programs
effectiveness.
It is important to note that a lack of compliance leads to
security lapses that could create the negative factors
cited above.

Felix P. Nater is a retired Postal Inspector with over 30 years criminal and security experience. During his last 8 years he specialized in the Prevention of Workplace Violence. Currently, he is the president of Nater Associates, Ltd. a security managment consulting firm on Long Island offering a variety of Workplace Violence Prevention and Security Awareness products to government, corporate and private organizations. He is available for speakin

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