Transcript Workplace Violence: What To Know What To Do

Workplace Violence:
What To Know
What To Do
Hawai’I Employers’ Mutual
Insurance Company, Inc.
What Is Workplace Violence?
• Workplace violence
• Any act of physical violence – overt aggression
– Homicide, physical and sexual assault
• Workplace aggression – emotional toll
– Expressions of hostility
• Gestures, facial expressions and verbal assaults
– Threats of physical violence
– Harassment, intimidation, bullying
• Ostracism/shunning
– Obstructionism
• Passive/aggressive behaviors that impede job performance or
achievement of organizational objectives
Source: Joel Neuman, Journal of Management, May/June, 1998
Workplace Violence Can…
• Be inflicted by a stranger with criminal
intent, or
• Be inflicted by an abusive
– Employee, supervisor or manager
– Client, patient or customer
– Former employee, manager or supervisor
– Family member or significant other
Workplace Violence Can…
• Affect or involve
– Employees
– Visitors, customers, patients or clients
– contractors
Why the Increase in Workplace Violence?
• Increase in societal tolerance of violence
– Acceptance of violence as a form of communication
• Increased accessibility to weapons
• Less control over work environment
• Lack of careers, commitment and loyalty
– Job vs. career
• Downsizing, Reengineering
– Do more with less
– Loss of middle management
Why the Increase in Workplace Violence?
(con’t)
• Substance abuse
• Psychological factors
– Increasing stress
– Breakdown of support systems
• Nuclear families
• Extended families
• Sense of neighborhood/community
• Change
– The increasing pace of change
– Ability to cope with pace of organizational change
Why the Increase in Workplace Violence?
(con’t)
• Insatiable electronic media demands
– 24/7 TV news
– The Internet
• Government and government workers
easy targets for angry citizens
– Changes in government benefits and services
– Entitlement philosophy
How Big Is The Problem?
• Source of the statistics needs to be kept in
mind
• Two general sources of data
– Crime statistics
– Occupational injury statistics
• OSHA
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Annual Survey
• National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities
Surveillance System - NIOSH
How Big Is The Problem?
• Nationally
– 1.7 million individuals are the victim of a
violent workplace crime each year (BJS)
– This represents 12.5% of all violent crimes
committed annually in America (BJS)
(Source: Violence in the Workplace, 1993-1999)
(Source: National Crime Victimization Study – 1998)
(Bureau of Justice Statistics – 2001)
How Big Is The Problem?
• Nationally (con’t)
– 1993 – 1999 nearly 6,150 U.S. workers were victims
of homicide in the workplace
– Approximately 12% of all deaths from injury in the
workplace
– Causes of death in the workplace
• #1 Motor vehicle
• #2 Machinery
• #3 Homicide
(Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001)
How Big Is The Problem?
• Nationally (con’t)
• Overall workplace homicide has remained
the third most frequent cause of fatalities
in the workplace
How Big Is The Problem?
• Nationally (con’t)
• 1997, Percent of Work-Related Homicides
by Type
– Type 1 Criminal Intent – 85%
– Type 2 Customer/Client – 3%
– Type 3 Co or Past Worker – 7%
– Type 4 Personal Relationship – 5%
(Source: BLS)
How Big Is The Problem?
• Nationally (con’t)
– Fully 99.8% of the victims of workplace
violence survive the assaults they experience
Source: Joel Neuman, Journal of Management, May/June, 1998
– This doesn’t make the experience any less
traumatic!
How Big Is The Problem?
• Nationally (con’t)
• Average number of violent non-fatal
victimizations in the workplace, 1992 – 1996,by
selected occupations
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Retail - @285,000
Law Enforcement – @240,000
Teaching - @135,000
Medical - @130,000
Mental Health - @ 75,000
Transportation - @ 65,000
Source: University of Iowa, Injury Prevention Research Center, February 2001
Who Commits Workplace Violence?
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80% committed by males
40% committed by complete strangers
35% committed by casual acquaintances
19% by individuals well known to victim
1% by relatives of the victim
(Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1994)
Where Did The Incidents Occur?
• 61% in private companies
• 30% in government agencies
• 8% involved self-employed individuals
(Source: BJS, 1994)
What Does Workplace Violence Cost?
• The Economics of Workplace Violence
– Three most affected areas are:
• Costly litigation
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Negligent hiring
Negligent retention
Negligent supervision
Inadequate security
• Lost productivity
– > 80% for 2 weeks post incident
» CISD, investigations, PTSD
» Increased turnover
» Decreased morale
What Does Workplace Violence Cost?
• The Economics of Workplace Violence
(Continued)
– Damage Control
• Tangible
– Customer buying decisions
• Intangible
– Media exposure
– Community relations
– Corporate image
(Source: Workplace Violence Research Institute)
What Does Workplace Violence Cost?
• Estimated that some 500,000 employees
miss 1,751,000 days of work annually or
3.5 days per incident
• This missed work equates to
approximately $55 million in lost wages
(Source: BJS, 1994)
Classifications of Workplace Violence
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Type I Criminal Intent
Type II Customer/Client
Type III Worker-on-Worker
Type IV Personal Relationship
Source: University of Iowa, Injury Prevention Research Center, February 2001
Classifications of Workplace Violence
• Type I – Criminal Intent
– Perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to
the organization or its employees
– A crime is usually being committed in
conjunction with the violence
• Robbery, shoplifting, criminal trespassing
Classifications of Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Type II – Customer/Client
– The perpetrator has a legitimate relationship
with the organization – The recipient or object
of services provided by the affected workplace
or victim
– This category includes customers, clients,
patients, students, inmates, etc.
Classifications of Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Type III – Worker-on-Worker
– The perpetrator is an employee or past
employee of the organization who attacks or
threatens fellow past or present employees
– May be seeking revenge for what is perceived
as unfair treatment
– Includes employees, supervisors and
managers
Classifications of Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Type IV – Personal Relationship
– The perpetrator usually does not have a legitimate
relationship with the organization, but has or has had
a personal relationship with the intended victim
– May involve a current or former spouse, lover,
relative, friend, or acquaintance
– Domestic violence carried out at the workplace
– The perpetrator is motivated by perceived difficulties
in the relationship or by psychosocial factors that are
specific to the perpetrator
What Are Possible Risk Factors?
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Exchange of money with the public
Working alone or in small numbers
Working late night or early morning
Working in high crime areas
Guarding valuable property or
possessions
• Working in community settings
– (e.g. taxicab drivers, retail clerks, police)
What Are Possible Risk Factors? (con’t)
• Where alcohol/drugs sold or dispensed
• Exposure to unstable or volatile persons?
(e.g. health care, social services, criminal justice settings)
• Employees deciding on benefits, or in
some way controlling a person’s future,
well-being or freedom? (Such as a government
agency does)
(Source: NIOSH)
Conditions Allowing Workplace Violence
• Individual Characteristics
• Precipitating Events or Conditions
• System Characteristics
Source: Workplace Solutions, 1997
Conditions Allowing Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Individual Characteristics
– Paranoid personality and thinking
– Drug and/or alcohol problem
– Life stressor – divorce/separation, illness,
helplessness, loss or control, isolation
Conditions Allowing Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Precipitating events or conditions
– Termination
– Job changes
– Harassment by co-workers or supervisors
Conditions Allowing Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• System Characteristics
– Not recognizing or ignoring early warning
signs
– Indifference to the needs of employees
– Poor management of downsizings,
terminations and accidents
– Punishing or terminating impaired or deviant
employees
– Poor or non-existent communication between
labor and management
Conditions Allowing Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• System Characteristics (con’t)
– Information that could signal problems is not
shared
– Lack of commitment and involvement by top
management
Indicators of Potential Workplace Violence
• Intimidating, harassing, bullying,
belligerent or other inappropriate and
aggressive behavior
• Numerous conflicts with customers, coworkers or supervisors
• Bringing a weapon to the workplace
(unless job related)
• Making inappropriate references to guns
Indicators of Potential Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Making threats or idle threats about using
a weapon to harm someone
• Making statements showing a fascination
with incidents of workplace violence
• Making statements indicating approval of
the use of violence to resolve a problem
Indicators of Potential Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Making statements indicating the
identification with perpetrators of
workplace homicides
• Statements indicating desperation over
family, financial or other types of personal
problems
• Statements about contemplating suicide
Indicators of Potential Workplace Violence
(con’t)
• Direct or veiled threats of harm
• Substance abuse
• Extreme changes in normal behavior
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1998
Profile of the Most Likely Type III Perpetrator
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A male, aged 25 to 40 years
Has a history of violence
Tends to be a loner
Owns several weapons
Has requested some form of assistance in
the past
• Exhibits frequent anger
• Has a history of conflict with others
Profile of the Most Likely Type III Perpetrator
(con’t)
• Has a history of family or marital problems
• After periods of verbalizing anger, will become
withdrawn
• Is paranoid
• Exhibits self-destructive behavior such as
alcohol and/or drug use
Remember, don’t take profile too literally
Source: www.svn.net/mikekell/v3.html
Behavior Warning Signs of Potential
Violence and Their Probability of Occurrence
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Male (80% or better)
White (75% or better)
Working age (90% or better)
Will display one or more of the following
behaviors (90% or better)
– A history of violence
– Evidence of psychosis
– Evidence of abnormally strong sexual desire
(erotomania)
Behavior Warning Signs of Potential
Violence and Their Probability of Occurrence
(con’t)
– Evidence of drug and/or alcohol dependence
– Evidence of depression and withdrawal
– A pattern of pathological blaming
– Evidence of impaired neurological functioning
– An elevated frustration level
– An interest/fascination in weapons
– Evidence of a personality disorder
Behavior Warning Signs of Potential
Violence and Their Probability of Occurrence
(con’t)
– Unexplained increase in absenteeism
– Noticeable decrease in attention to
appearance and personal hygiene
– Has a plan to “solve all problems”
– Resistance and over reaction to changes in
policies or procedures
– repeated violations of the organization’s
policies
Behavior Warning Signs of Potential
Violence and Their Probability of Occurrence
(con’t)
• The following behaviors are commonly exhibited, but
have an uncertain probability:
– Will vocalize or otherwise act out, violent intentions
prior to committing a violent act
– Over a sustained period of time, will exhibit behaviors
that are interpreted as insignificant, strange, bizarre
or threatening by coworkers and supervisors
Remember: These are general guidelines.
Exceptions will always occur
Source: Workplace Violence Research Institute
Preventing Workplace Violence
• Three general approaches to prevention
– Environmental
– Administrative/Organizational
– Behavioral/Interpersonal
Source: University of Iowa, Injury Prevention Research Center, February 2001
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
• Environmental
– Adequate inside and outside lighting
– Secure entrances and exits
– Security hardware
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Turnstiles
Key cards
Smart cards
Biometric systems
– Physical barriers
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
• Environmental (con’t)
– Metal and Explosives Detectors
– Security Forces
• Uniformed vs. Business Attire
• Armed vs. unarmed
– Specialized customer/client meeting rooms
– Other engineering controls
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
• Administrative/Organizational
– Programs
• Workplace Violence Plan
• Threat Assessment Team
• EAP
– Policies
• Harassment
• Workplace violence
• SOPs
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
• Administrative/Organizational (con’t)
– Hiring and Termination Practices
• Hiring
– Corroborate information on applications/resumes (42% contain
intentional misstatements of material facts)
– Interview – Use of open-ended questions
» Looking for a pattern of aggressive behavior
– Conduct background investigation
• Firing
– Consider the possibility of violent response
– Plan out – script out the procedure
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
• Administrative/Organizational (con’t)
– Work Practice Controls - Work practices
aimed at maintaining a safe working
environment – Written procedures and
guidelines
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
• Behavioral/Interpersonal
– Changing employee attitudes toward security – It
won’t happen to me
– Staff training – Train staff to anticipate, recognize and
respond to conflict and potential violence in the
workplace
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Personal security techniques
Non-violent crisis intervention techniques
De-escalation techniques
Communication techniques
How to report violent, inappropriate, disruptive or
threatening behavior
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
– Supervisor/manager training – in addition to
the staff level training, supervisors and
managers should receive training in:
• Creating a positive work culture/climate that
supports employees
• Developing skills for displaying compassion,
concern and support for employees – employee
trust is critical
• How to best utilize the EAP
Preventing Workplace Violence (con’t)
• Supervisor/manager training (con’t)
– Performance management
– Administering progressive discipline
– Contract management/grievance handling
– Employee counseling/coaching
Special Considerations For
Managers/Supervisors
• What are the workplace violence risks at
the worksites you run?
• Indicators that employees need immediate
intervention
– Excessive tardiness or absences
– An increased need for supervisory attention or
supervision
– Reduced productivity
– Inconsistent work habits
– Strained workplace relationships
Special Considerations For
Managers/Supervisors (con’t)
– Inability to concentrate
– Violation of safety procedures
• New, sudden involvement in accidents or violations
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Changes in health or hygiene
Unusual or sudden behavioral change
Fascination with weapons
Alcohol and/or drug abuse
Special Considerations For
Managers/Supervisors (con’t)
– Stress
– Excuses and Blaming
– Depression
Responding to Workplace Violence
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Facility Emergency Action Plan
Threat Assessment Team
Emergency Response Team
CISD (Critical Incident Stress Debriefings)
EAP
Media Contact
• Organizational Recovery/Continued
Operation Plan
Special Issues for Field Employees
• Need to develop specific safety guidelines
to employee’s specific situation and the
problems they are likely to encounter
• Preparation of daily work plans/itinerary
(e.g. flight plan)
• Maintaining periodic contact throughout
the day
• Case Studies
What Happen
Who Was Involved
Where It Happened
When It Happened
Why It Happened
How It Happened
Special Issues for Field Employees (con’t)
• Use of a buddy system
• Need to recognize potentially dangerous
situations ahead of time, so back-up can
be secured/started or a strategy
implemented so the employee does not go
in alone
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1998
Weapons Used
• WORKPLACE HOMICIDES, 1990-1989
– Guns – 75%
– Knives etc. – 14%
(Source, NIOSH, 1993)
• In 62% of the violent crimes the
perpetrator was not armed; in 30% of the
violent crimes the perpetrator was armed
with a handgun (Source: BJS, 1994)