Workplace Violence: Causes and Consequences

Introduction

Workplace violence is defined by OSHA as “any act of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the worksite. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide. It can affect and involve employees, clients, customers, and visitors.” There are four types of workplace violence: criminal intent, customer or client, worker-on-worker, and personal relationship.

Every industry is affected, and the impact reaches beyond the loss of life and harm to individuals. Lawsuits such as negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent supervision, and inadequate security can follow an incident. For workplace violence cases, the average out-of-court settlement is around $500,000, and the average jury award is around $3,000,000. The impact is not only legal repercussions but also productivity impairments. Workplace violence leads to employees missing work because of fear for their physical safety and to protect their mental health. Missed workdays in the U.S. are 1.8 million which is equivalent to $55 million of lost wages. The cost to businesses is even higher when you take other factors such as reputation impairment into account at a whopping $130 billion

Relevance

Even though two million people annually report some type of workplace violence, OSHA estimates twenty-five percent of workplace violence is not reported. In the workplace, there are thirty thousand sexual assaults or rapes reported. In 2016 alone, there were five hundred homicides in the workplace. Piercing, cutting, slashing, and stabbing led to twenty-eight fatalities, which was seven percent of 2015 homicides. In the same year, however, shootings led to three hundred and fifty-four fatalities, which is eighty-five percent.

Seventy percent of mass shootings occur within a business or educational setting. Unfortunately, only twenty-five percent of companies are adequately prepared for an active shooter situation. This is an issue because half of the time, police officers do not arrive at the site within ten minutes. Factory and warehouse settings result in the active shooter's death as opposed to commercial settings. The FBI has identified ten behaviors in not only workplace shooters, but all persons that become active shooters: mental health, interpersonal interactions, leakage of violence, quality of thinking or communication, work performance, school performance, threats and confrontations, anger, physical aggression, and risk-taking. Another major finding is that “each active shooter displayed four to five concerning behaviors over time” and “typically were experiencing multiple stressors at the time of the shooting.”

There was a shooting this weekend in Aurora, Illinois. The shooter had been arrested six times for a variety of charges including domestic violence, assault, battery, and criminal damage to property. He stabbed a girlfriend and threatened to kill another. He also was convicted of a felony in 1995. This felony did not appear in a background check and he was able to obtain an Illinois firearm owner’s identification card in January 2014. Two months later, he purchased a handgun from a local dealer. Six police officers were injured and five employees were killed. One of those employees was Trevor Wehner. He was twenty-one and it was the first day of his human resource internship. The shooter killed Trevor and two others in a meeting where he was being fired from his job of fifteen years.

Solutions

It is an important responsibility as an HR professional to know the role in workplace violence incidents. Knowing the warning signs, implementing policies, and administering training are ways HR professionals can make a workplace safer. The behavioral signs include changes in behavior or decline in job performance, resistance to changes at work, persistent complaining about unfair treatment, violation of company policies, increase in absenteeism, stated hope for something bad to happen, and excessive use of alcohol or drugs. Emotional signs include refusal to accept criticism, inability to manage feelings, outbursts, swearing, slamming doors, mood swings, paranoia, blaming others for problems, depression, withdrawal, and suicidal comments.

Policies can be very effective in increasing the safety of a workplace. There should be zero-tolerance of workplace violence and an emergency action plan. Employees should know how to handle situations such as alerting a supervisor, using the buddy system, and reporting incidents. There are many ways to increase the safety of a workplace such as installing cameras for surveillance, alarm systems, and extra lighting. Utilizing electronic keys, identification badges, and security guards will also increase safety. Training is a crucial aspect of human resource management. Mock training exercises with law enforcement officers is one of many ways to engage in training for workplace violence situations.

Citations

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, There were 500 workplace homicides in the United States in 2016 on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/there-were-500-workplace-homicides-in-the-united-states-in-2016.htm (visited February 17, 2019).
2. https://www.nsc.org/work-safety/safety-topics/workplace-violence
3. https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/13369-workplace-violence-prevention
4. https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/17596-workplace-violence-steps-for-prevention
5. 2018 NCVRW Resource Guide: Workplace Violence Fact Sheet
6. https://safety.blr.com/workplace-safety-news/emergency-planning-and-response/violence-in-workplace/4-Types-of-Workplace-Violence-Whats-Your-Greatest-/
7. https://alertfind.com/workplace-violence-statistics/
8. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-gary-martin-aurora-shooter-20190216-story.html
9. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/16/aurora-shooting-illinois-shootout-gary-martin-police-officers/2890406002/
10. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/
11. https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/blog/latest-workplace-violence-statistics
12. https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/pre-attack-behaviors-of-active-shooters-in-us-2000-2013.pdf/view
13. https://www.hsdl.org/c/fbi-active-shooter-study-pre-attack-observable-behaviors/