- Introduction – Types of Violence
- Workplace Violence: Prevention, Policies & Preparation
- Managing, Disciplining and Firing Potentially Violent employees
- Bullying in the Workplace
- Domestic Violence in the Workplace
- Crisis Response and Management
- Recovery Resources: PTSD and Trauma
Introduction – Types of Violence
Taking steps to prevent violence in your business is not only good policy – it’s the law. That’s because the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) general duty clause, which says “an employer is obligated to furnish its employees a workplace free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death and/or serious physical harm,” has been interpreted to include preventable workplace violence.
When talking about workplace violence, the tendency is to think about a disgruntled employee shooting a number of co-workers because that’s what makes the big headlines in the news. In reality, these incidents are relatively rare. Most work-related homicides are the result of robberies in retail or service organizations. According to a recent BLS report, about 75% of work homicides fall into this category.
When talking about violence at work, the FBI offers four types or categories. Such distinctions, below, are helpful in terms of developing prevention strategies and risk management controls.
Type I – Violent acts by criminals who enter the workplace to commit crimes without connection with the workplace. Typically, these events are robberies against retail establishments.
Type II – Violence directed at employees by individuals to whom their employer provides services (e.g., clients, customers, patients, etc.) This would include police, correctional officers, health care workers, teachers, and other public or private service provides who are assaulted while providing service.
Type III – Violence against organizational insiders by organizational insiders. The “disgruntled employee” type of situation that we saw in the recent Connecticut shooting would be included in this category. These types of events might include a fatal assault on one or more than one coworker.
Type IV – Violence committed by someone who is not an employee, but who has a personal relationship with a targeted employee. Typically, this is domestic or spousal violence that spills over into the workplace. It might be directed at one targeted person, or might also include others in the workplace.
Workplace Violence: Prevention & Preparation
OSHA Resources on Workplace Violence – information on the extent of violence in the workplace, assessing the hazards in different settings and developing workplace violence prevention plans for individual worksites. The site offers statistics, risk factors, administrative controls, recommendations and training resources, and more.
Practical Preparedness for Workplace Violence – four-part series by Laura Walter, EHS
- Part 1: Warning Signs – In the first part of this series, watch for these warning signs to protect your business from workplace violence.
- Part 2: Disciplinary Mistakes – In the second part of this workplace violence series, an expert outlines six common mistakes employers make when disciplining or terminating employees.
- Part 3: When Domestic Violence Becomes Workplace Violence – Domestic violence isn’t just a personal problem – it bleeds into the workplace, too. In the third installment of this series, a legal expert explains why domestic violence is a threat to the American workplace.
- Part 4: Top 10 Action Steps – In this final installment in EHS Today’s special workplace violence series, Brent O’Bryan shares 10 action steps employers can take to address workplace violence.
Dealing with Workplace Violence: A Guide for Agency Planners – This guide was issued by the US Office of Personnel Management for use by managers in the federal workplace. It can serve as a model and reference for organization that wish to implement a prevention and management program for workplace violence. It includes resources on program and policy planning, threat assessment, prevention, and security measures, program implementations, case studies, investigations, and recovery.
Bullet-Proofing Your Workplace – Checklist on essential steps to protect your workplace.
Workplace Violence Is Not Beyond Your Control
Tips from an Expert: Warning Signs of Workplace Violence
Situations and Actions that Predict Possible Violence
Workplace Violence – Blog posts on various workplace violence topics from security experts Allied Barton.
Preventing Workplace Violence – A comprehensive guide and prevention program from the AFSCME.
Centers for Disease Control – Occupational Violence – resources from the centers for Disease Control and The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Violence in the Workplace – the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety offers guidance and tools for preventing workplace violence.
Workplace Violence – Issues In Response – (PDF) from the FBI
Violence–Employees Have to Do their Part
Managing, Disciplining and Firing Potentially Violent Employees
A Seven Step Process to Address and Manage Potentially Violent Situations in the Workplace (PDF)
What Can a Company Do With a Dangerous Employee? – by Suzanne Lucas, Human Resources expert for CBS Money Watch.
Planning terminations that involve potentially violent employees
Deadly Terminations and How to Avoid Them – IRMI article by James N. Madero, Ph.D. of Violence Prevention International. He presents deadly scenarios and ways that risk might have been mitigated.
Firing the Violent or Threatening Employee Without Being Fired On (PDF) – Ten pages of advice from Steven C. Millwee, author and expert on workplace violence.
Eight Tips for Meeting with a Potentially Violent Employee – these tips from attorney Robert Bettac are not necessarily aimed for a termination meeting, but offer good advice.
Bullying in the Workplace
Workplace bullying is often a precursor to workplace violence and is frequently a factor in discrimination lawsuits. It also detracts from productivity and can result in unnecessary turnover.
The Workplace Bullying Institute defines workplace bullying as repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators that takes one or more of the following forms:
- Verbal abuse
- Offensive conduct/behaviors (including nonverbal) which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating
- Work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done
For victims, bullying may result in fear, depression, anxiety, stress, hypertension, and PTSD. The person’s immediate work and job performance are generally disrupted, and bullying can have an impact on a person’s ongoing career.
As supervisors, it is your job to establish a “zero tolerance” environment for bullying and to watch for and put a stop to bulling behaviors.
Workplace Bullying Institute – the Institute’s stated goal is “To raise awareness of, and create a public dialogue about Workplace Bullying. To apply research, empirical and anecdotal, to solutions for individuals, unions, employers and public policy makers.”
Healthy Workplace – Since 2003, 25 states have introduced workplace anti-bullying legislation; 11 states currently have 15 bills active. Healthy Workplace tracks state legislative efforts to enact the Healthy Workplace bill and other legislative efforts aimed at requiring employers to implement anti-bulling measures in the workplace.
Workplace-Bullying Laws on the Horizon? SHRM
8 Proactive Steps to Stop Bullying
Active and Passive Accomplices: The Communal Character of Workplace Bullying (PDF)
Domestic Violence in the Workplace
Because we spend so much time at work, colleagues and supervisors are often in a unique position to spot signs of domestic violence and employer can often play a critical role in directing the employee to help through referrals to an EAP or other community resource. In the past, the “none of my business” type of thinking often prevailed, but today employers know that problems at home rarely stay at home. All too often, domestic abuse comes right to the workplace.
Workplaces Respond to Domestic & Sexual Violence – A National Resource Center project offers information for the benefit of those workplaces interested in providing effective responses to victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, dating violence and stalking. Resources include a Workplace Toolkit as well as employer-specific resources on training, a guide for supervisors, resources on threat assessments and safety and security and an extensive list of other resources for employers and for victims.
The Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence – the only national organization of its kind founded by business leaders and focused on the workplace. Since 1995, the Alliance has brought together dozens of progressive companies who exchange information, collaborate on projects, and use their influence to instigate change. The mission is to aid in the prevention of partner violence by leveraging the strength and resources of the corporate community.
For the Manager: How the Workplace can Increase Safety and Provide Support – A section from the US Office of Personnel Management’s Guide that offers advice on what to say to an employee who is faced with domestic abuse and steps you as a supervisor or manager can take to protect the employee.
Initiating a Training Program – Verizon Wireless shares its approach to educating employees about the impact of domestic violence in the workplace via a collaborative program that is accessible, cost effective and easily transferable to various company locations.
Domestic-Violence Policy – State Farm Insurance Co.’s policy on domestic violence defines the term and offers a number of ways the company assists its employees who are victims.
State Law Guides – These guides track state laws and bills that can help victims of domestic or sexual violence maintain the economic security they need to address the violence in their lives
State & Territorial Coalitions Against Domestic Violence – find resources in your state.
National Domestic Violence Hotline – 1-800-799-SAFE – The Hotline is the only domestic violence hotline in the nation with access to more than 4,000 shelters and domestic violence programs across the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Hotline is toll-free, confidential and anonymous. It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in more than 170 different languages through interpreter services, with a TTY line available for the Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing. The staff at The Hotline is also available to provide assistance and guidance in a variety of areas including media, public relations, fundraising, public policy, legal advocacy and public education and training.
Futures Without Violence – for more than 30 years, Futures Without Violence has led the way and set the pace for ground-breaking education programs, national policy development, professional training programs, and public actions designed to end violence against women, children and families around the world. In 1994, Futures Without Violence was instrumental in developing the landmark Violence Against Women Act passed by the U.S. Congress.
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) – has been providing to survivors of domestic violence for over 35 years. The site includes resources for creating a safety plan for yourself or for a friend or a relative, as well as information about protecting your identity and staying safe online. NCADV is a sponsor of National Domestic Violence Month every October and makes resources available onsite.
The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) – a social change organization that is dedicated to creating a social, political and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists. NNEDV offers a range of programs and initiatives to address the complex causes and far-reaching consequences of domestic violence. Through cross-sector collaborations and corporate partnerships, NNEDV offers support to victims of domestic violence who are escaping abusive relationships – and empowers survivors to build new lives.
Legal Momentum: Violence – Legal and other resources from the Women’s Legal Defense & Education Fund.
Removing Guns from Domestic Violence Offenders (PDF) – an analysis of state level policies aimed at preventing future or continued abuse that was issued by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.
National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) – provides a wide range of free, comprehensive, and individualized technical assistance, training, and specialized resource materials and key initiatives designed to enhance current domestic violence intervention and prevention strategies.
Sir Patrick Stewart’s powerful message about domestic violence – Sir Patrick Stewart is distinguished British actor, much beloved for his Star Trek and X-Men roles, among others. He’s recognized for his strong and authoritative voice, a talent that has brought him into high demand for voice-over acting. Less well known but perhaps much more importantly, he has spent years lending his strong voice to the campaign against domestic violence – something that he himself experienced as a child and that in recent years he speaks about openly.
Crisis Response and Management
Active Shooter Preparedness – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) aims to enhance preparedness through a “whole community” approach by providing training, products, and resources on issues such as active shooter awareness, incident response, and workplace violence. DHS offers free courses, materials, and workshops to better prepare you to deal with an active shooter situation and to raise awareness of behaviors that represent pre-incident indicators and characteristics of active shooters.
Active Shooter – Emergency Planning from Security Expert Allied Barton.
Surviving an Active Shooter Event: Run, Hide, Fight – a 6-minute video developed and released by the City of Houston Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
Know Your Exits: Safety Advice Following the Colorado Theater Shooting
Recovery Resources: PTSD and Trauma
Managing your distress in the aftermath of a shooting
Grief in the workplace: Tips for supervisors – Managers can play a key role in helping an employee to heal. Resuming the normal routine of work is part of the healthy recovery process. Knowing something about the various stages or behaviors that are common in the grief process can be helpful in understanding how to support grieving workers.
Common Reactions After a Trauma
A Manager’s Handbook for Handling Traumatic Events – From the US Office of Personnel Management, this guide covers difficult crisis issues such as violence, suicide, death and trauma recovery in the workplace.
National Center for PTSD – a national center of excellence for research and education on the prevention, understanding, and treatment of PTSD. Although a VA Center, seven divisions across the country provide expertise on all types of trauma – from natural disasters, terrorism, violence and abuse to combat exposure. The Center offers a public site with a variety of resources, including information about symptoms of PTSD and a mobile app to help manage symptoms.
Medline Plus – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Extensive resources, including tutorials, videos, research. Information and links.
National Institute of Mental Health – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – information on signs, symptoms and treatment.