Barry Nixon, Executive Director of the National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc. was kind enough to author a guest article for employeescreen University on how employers can assess their risk to workplace violence.  Of course, employment background checks can help on the front end, but check out Barry’s advice and how employers can take steps to evaluate their workplace and prevent such incidents.

Workplace Violence Prevention: Assessing the Risk to Your Business

Over the last two decades, the Department of Labor and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have provided insightful information on workplace violence fatalities and non-fatal incidents. While these statistical reports have provided essential details, in most cases businesses have not been able to translate them into cogent plans to address this ever-present problem. This article will focus on helping those charged with the responsibility for addressing workplace violence to understand the potential business and financial impact of violence on their work environment.

The impact can be analyzed in four steps:

1. Assessing the risk to the business
2. Identifying the business and financial impact of workplace violence
3. Mitigation approaches to avoid or reduce the risk of incidents occurring
4. Dealing with the aftermath of an incident

This discussion addresses the first step. Let’s start out with a definition of workplace violence:

“Acts of aggression or violence including assaults, threats, disruptive, aggressive, hostile, verbal or emotionally abusive behaviors that generate fear that occur in, or are related to the workplace and entail a real or perceived risk of physical, emotional and/or psychological harm to individuals, or damage to an organization’s resources or capabilities.”

Starting from this definition, let’s turn our attention to the core focus of this article – the financial impact that violence can have on an organization.

Historical data reveals the daunting costs of workplace violence.

• According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 500,000 victims of violent crime in the workplace lose an estimated 1.8 million workdays each year. This represents a $55 million impact as a result of loss of productivity and increased healthcare expenses.(1)
• Domestic violence costs businesses approximately $6 billion annually in healthcare costs, lost productivity, and missed work time.(2)
• The average out-of-court settlement for ‘negligence’ litigation is approximately $500,000 and the average jury award is around $3 million.(3)
• For 6 to 18 weeks after an incident, there is a 50% decrease in productivity and a 20% to 40% turnover in employees.(4)

Specific cost figures for a specific workplace violence incident are very tough to get because companies are reluctant to reveal proprietary information and potentially expose imperfections in their operations, safety procedures, and employee practices. Most firms that experience a serious incident will move quickly to minimize the negative publicity and the impact on their business. Their actual costs are likely to be buried in various innocuous-sounding budget entries so that the business can project the image that ‘all is well’ to avoid spooking their customers and shareholders. However, as the historical data indicates, the costs are not small.

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You might also be interested in a podcast interview we did with Barry last year.  Check it out.

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NCCI Releases New Study on Workplace Violence

Posted by Ross Arrowsmith on Wednesday, September 3rd 2008 under Workplace Violence Research & Studies

from National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI Holdings Inc.)

Download the report: Violence in the Workplace—An Updated Analysis

This is the fourth in a series of NCCI reports on workplace violence. It provides updated data and analyses based on the latest available information from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on workplace homicides and assaults by persons and from NCCI on the characteristics of claims associated with workplace violence.

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We wrote a great white paper on workplace violence a few months ago.  Where ours concentrates on the use of background checks, this article offers other tips.

Hidden Threats
There are steps you can take to prevent violence in the workplace

By: Steven R. Peltin and Gregg O. McCrary

More than 70 percent of workplaces in the United States have no formal program or policy to address workplace violence. Yet, as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates, 2 million people each year are victims of workplace violence. Eliminating all such violence may be impossible, but employers can and should confront the problem in the following ways:

1. Take security precautions. Companies may deter violent acts by making changes to the workplace or to workplace procedures. If the perpetrator cannot enter the workplace or is intercepted before reaching the intended target, violence may be averted. Precautions could include controlled access to the workplace, enhanced lighting and visibility, alarms, closed-circuit cameras and cellular phones. Employee training is particularly important. Government or private security professionals can assist in evaluating and upgrading security.

2. Screen applicants carefully. Employers should try to exclude candidates with a history of violence or other unsuitable behavior.

3. Adopt and enforce a “zero tolerance” policy for violence or threats of violence. Companies should create a clear policy so the entire organization understands the commitment to proper workplace behavior and the protocol to follow in case of threats or violent conduct. Companies should ensure that the policy is enforced rigorously. Violence or threats in the workplace should lead to termination of employment or exclusion of visitors from the workplace.

4. Create and train a response team. Even smaller employers should have an experienced team to confront threats of violence

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California has always been years ahead of other states when it comes to protecting employee rights.  Some of their mandates are outright scary for employers….but in the end everyone complies.  The concepts are usually very simple, their execution is sometimes rather difficult.  This one is easy; employers must provide a safe working environment for their employees.  Step number one, do a background check.  Not knowing who your employees are is a recipe for disaster.  These workplace mandates are the closest thing to a law requiring background checks and employment screening we have ever seen! (Shameless plug – See our recent white paper on workplace violence)

Violence prevention is the law

California employers are legally required to provide a safe and healthful work environment for their employees.

As part of their efforts to maintain such an environment, employers should establish a workplace violence prevention policy that educates employees on the illegality of acts of violence or threats of violence against employees in the workplace. The policy should also explain what constitutes unacceptable behavior and consequences for such behavior. One of the most important elements in any prevention plan is a zero-tolerance policy for threats, harassment, intimidation, violent acts and weapons possession.

If, in spite of all efforts to provide a safe and healthful workplace, an employee becomes a victim of unlawful violence or credible threats of violence while at work, the employee can request the employer to obtain a temporary restraining order on his or her behalf to protect the employee from the violent person.

The California Code of Civil Procedure offers the following definitions in this situation:

“Unlawful violence” is any assault, battery or stalking, as defined in the California Penal Code.

“Course of conduct” is a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, that show consistent purpose, including following or stalking an employee to or from work; entering the workplace; following an employee during hours of employment; making telephone calls to an employee; or sending correspondence to an employee by any means, including, but not limited to, the use of the public or private mails, interoffice mail, fax, or computer e-mail.

In order to obtain a restraining order, the acts or threats of violence must be reasonably likely to be carried out, or have been carried out, in the workplace; however, they need not be committed by a co-worker. Anyone who acts against or threatens an employee in the workplace is in violation of the law and can be subject to a restraining order.

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Houston Astros Pitcher Shawn Chacon has been suspended indefinitely for grabbing the General Manager, Ed Wade, by the throat and throwing him to the ground.  For those of you playing at home, this is not the correct way, even in Major League Baseball, to move up the corporate ladder.  And while professional sports has been abnormally tolerant of aberrant behavior, even they have their breaking point as it looks like Chacon has most likely disqualified himself from ever playing again as a result of this workplace violence issue.

I found the following excerpt from an article written by baseball writer, Richard Justice revealing, because it shows that the Astros performed some type of background check (at least an employment verification).  They evidently just chose to ignore the signs that such an incident was predictable.

Choking GM likely ends Shawn Chacon’s career

HOUSTON — It was both frightening and surreal to those who saw it. Houston Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon rose from his chair, wrapped his hands around general manager Ed Wade’s throat and threw him to the floor.

After all the tantrums and all the dumb stuff and all the people who have forgiven Chacon through the years, he finally crossed the line Wednesday. He might long regret the day he likely ended his own big league career.

Chacon did it himself. He’ll look for scapegoats. He’ll blame others. He’ll look everywhere except the mirror. That’s what people like Chacon always do.

In the end, though, everything that has happened to Shawn Chacon has been because of Shawn Chacon. This incident can’t be forgiven or forgotten. Not by the Astros. Not by any other club.

Wade had approached Chacon and requested a meeting after the pitcher lashed out at Astros manager Cecil Cooper for demoting him to the bullpen.

Chacon refused. He challenged Wade to say what he had to say. Wade did. Loudly.

This wasn’t Wade’s finest hour, either. To ask for a meeting is one thing. To resort to yelling and cursing reflects a lack of maturity on Wade’s part as well. Some who have known Wade through the years have thought he had a large streak of insecurity and a little man’s complex.

View the full story here . . .

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We just learned of an unfortunate workplace violence story out of Henderson, Kentucky.  An employee of Atlantis Plastics went on a shooting rampage and killed 6 fellow employees before turning the weapon on himself after an argument with his supervisor.  This is obviously a horrible tragedy.

Coincidentally, I just met with Barry Nixon, Executive Director of the National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence and we were just talking about the fact that the number of incidents of workplace murders has been on the increase in the last year after declining significantly throughout the last 10 years.  Barry pointed to the increase in background checks as one reason the number had been declining.

Click on the link below for the full story:

Deadly Workplace Shooting a ‘Total Shock’

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I just found a great article in QSR Magazine: “How Restaurant Owners Can Avoid Violence in the Workplace“. The advice given by Greenberg Traurig attorney Todd Wozniak is not only great for those in the restaurant business, but for the marketplace in general. Some of the tips he offers are as follows:

Diligent hiring and supervision: Conduct a criminal background check on applicants. Be certain, however, that the scope of the background check on the employee does not run against laws that protect employees’ privacy, such as the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and that the interview not include impermissible questions about past drug and alcohol use and psychiatric conditions which may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Create a threat management team: Members can include professionals from human resources, the legal department, outside counsel, upper management, security, employee assistance program representatives, front line supervisors, and representative employees.

Assess vulnerabilities on a regular basis: Starting places for security audits include workers’ compensation records, employee disciplinary files, OSHA reports, security reports, and personnel files.

Adopt violence prevention policies: At all times, the policy should be sensitive to and protect the confidentiality of victims. In addition, the policy should include referrals to local resources for victims of violence.

Read the full story here . . .

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Not an article about background checks but a nice take on Workplace Violence.

ASSE Joins Brief to Support Employer Rights

March 12, 2008

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) joined with ASIS International and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in recently filing an amici curiae brief urging the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a 2007 federal district court ruling that found two so-called “forced entry laws” in Oklahoma unconstitutional. The Oklahoma laws would have prevented employers from setting workplace safety rules barring guns to be brought on employer property in a locked vehicle.

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