How to Prevent Workplace Violence

Workplace Violence in the 21st
Century: Top 10 Lessons
Learned
Kevin Connell W.Barry Nixon, SPHR
CEO & Founder National Institute for
AccuScreen.com Prevention of Workplace
Violence, Inc.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

W. Barry Nixon, SPHR

• Executive Director, National Institute for
Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc.
• Creator of
www.Workplaceviolence911.com (the
leading source on the Internet for
comprehensive information on workplace
violence)
• Contact Information: wbnixon@aol.com
or Telephone – (949)770-5264

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Course Objective
• To increase your knowledge about how to
create a safe workplace so that you and
your employees can go home every day
to their family.

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Deﬁnition - Workplace Violence

National Institute for the Prevention of Workplace
Violence, Inc.

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

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Riskiest Jobs
• Jobs that involve handling cash and/or other
valuable items
• Jobs that provide service to the public as a
clientele and have direct contact with service
recipients

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US Workplace Violence
Overview
• Nearly ﬁve percent of the 7.1 million private
industry
business establishments in the United States had an
incident of workplace violence within the 12 months
prior to completing a new survey on workplace
violence prevention.
• While 5 percent of all establishments, including
State and local governments, had a violent incident,
half of the largest establishments (employing
1,000
or more workers) reported an incident.

Survey Of Workplace Violence Prevention, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005

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Violence in the Workplace
 21st Century – 5,372 people murdered at work
 21st Century – average homicides at work 596 per
year
 Annually close to 2 million people report violent
victimizations while they are working or on duty

NOTE: Data from 2001 exclude fatalities resulting from the September 11 terrorist attacks.
SOURCE: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational
Injuries, 2000-2008

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Workplace Deaths
 Workplace suicides rose 28% from 2007 to 2008,
reaching a series-high total of 251 nationwide
 2008 – 517 (18% decrease)

 2007 – 628 (16 % Increase)
• 2006 – 540
• 2005 – 567
• 2004 – 559
• 2003 – 632
• 2002 – 609
• 2001 – 643
• 2000 – 677
NOTE: Data from 2001 exclude fatalities resulting from the September 11 terrorist attacks.
SOURCE: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2000-2008

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Recent Workplace Violence
 August 3: Manchester, Conn, 8 dead at Beer distributor
warehouse
 July 12: Emcore Corp, Albuquerque,
N. Mexico employee kills three.
 March 9: Angry janitor shoots two at Ohio
State University.
 March 7: Workforce Development Office, shots fired.
 Feb 13: University of Alabama, Teacher kills 3.
 Jan. 16: A 51-year-old dishwasher walks into a
Buffalo restaurant and fatally shoots a chef and
wounds the chef's father, the restaurant manager.
 Jan. 12: A disgruntled former employee shoots five, killing
two, at a Penske truck rental facility in Kennesaw, Ga.
 Jan. 7: A factory worker in St. Louis shoots and kills 3 co-
workers and injures five others at an electrical equipment
company.
 Nov. 5, 2009: An Army psychiatrist kills 13 and wounds 30
at the Fort Hood base in Texas.

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Financial Impact
 According to NIOSH the average cost
for a workplace homicides exceeds
$850,000.00.

 According to workplace violence
attorney, Rebecca Speer, the average
jury award for negligent cases is more
than $3 million in workplace violence
cases

 Also, based on legal research the
average out of court settlement for
negligent lawsuits is around
$500,000.00

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The Financial Impact

1. The cost of an incident can be
astronomical compared to prevention
and preparedness.
– Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University incurred $8 million in expenses
as a result of the events that occurred on
April 16, 2007.

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A New Breed of Angry Ex-
Worker
• . . . a Fannie Mae contract worker planted
a virus on the company's network after he
was ﬁred. Had it not been discovered, and
the code executed as planned, it would
have destroyed and altered all (yes, all) of
the data on Fannie Mae's 4,000 computer
servers nationwide.

Source: FBI and Department of Justice
(see http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/30/feds-allege-plot-destroy-
fannie-mae-data/)

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Potential Legal Issues


Negligent Hiring

Negligent Retention

Duty to Warn

OSHA general requirements

Confidentiality

Worker's Compensation

Employee Notification

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OSHA’s General Duty Clause
Section 5(a)(1)
Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees
employment and a place of employment which are free from
recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or
serious physical harm
This includes the prevention and control of the hazard of
workplace violence

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Threats Are Against The Law
“Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime
which will result in death or great bodily injury to
another person, with the speciﬁc intent that the
statement is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no
intent of actually carrying it out, which on its face and
under the circumstances in which it is made, is so
unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and speciﬁc as
to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of
purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the
threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to
be in sustained fear for his or her own safety, shall
be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to
exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state
prison.”

CA Penal Code Section 422
(Check the Penal Codes in Your State)

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Levels of Threats
• Each threat or alleged threat must be
assessed and managed based on the
uniqueness of the situation and considering
the clarity, severity and imminence of the
threat.

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Steps to Prevent Workplace
Violence

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Create A Workplace Violence
Prevention Infrastructure
• The NIX Model:
– Comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention
Policy
– Establish a Threat Management Team and assign
overall responsibility to a senior manager
– Establish Risk Assessment Process (organization,
facilities and individual)
– Enhance Security Measures
– Implement ‘best practice’ prevention support
initiatives (pre & post employment screening)

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Create A Workplace Violence
Prevention Infrastructure
• The NIX Model (continued)
– Stress management programs, problem
resolution processes, anger management
coaching, etc)
– Crisis Response and Communication plan
– Education and Training of supervisory
personnel and employees

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• Focus on creating and maintaining a safe
workplace environment
• Implement programs that will mitigate the risk
of injury or physical harm to employees,
customers, vendors and others who are in your
offices
• Form and empower a Threat Management Team
• Clearly deﬁne threats and policy violations
• Encourage employee reporting
• Train supervisors and employees
• Investigate all reported threats and incidents

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Zero Incidents

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Zero Incidents

The target of an effective workplace
violence program is injury
prevention. By focusing on reducing
“at risk” behaviors and practices,
organizations can attack and
remove the root causes of injuries
and intervene before incidents
happen.
Detect Prevent Protect

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Detect – Prevent – Protect
Model

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Model
• Detect – focus efforts on understanding and
discovering ‘at risk’ behaviors for individuals
and violence prone trends for organizations.

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Model
• Prevent - anticipate and deal with possible
problematic situations before they escalate into
problematic behaviors or conﬂict actually
erupts.

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Model
• Prevent - anticipate and deal with possible
problematic situations before they escalate into
problematic behaviors or conﬂict actually
erupts.
• Protect – implement measures to contain issues,
resolve hostilities and activate crisis response
plan.

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1-Detect
• Human Resources knows pulse of workforce, early
detection of problems, employee relations issues,
complaints, etc.
• Threat/Incident investigations geared towards
identifying underlying ‘root causes’ of issues.
• Risk Assessments
– Identify potential workplace security hazards/
resolve risk factors
– Track incidents, close calls and threats. Look for
patterns.
– Individual Threat Assessment process
– Organization Risk Assessment
– Enhance employee reporting processes
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Threat Assessment Begins
Before You Hire an Employee
“ Past behavior provides powerful
insights into potential future behavior”

• Background Screening
• Reference Checking

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Threat Assessment
2. A) Pre-employment Screening before an
individual is hired:
– Thorough background check
– Thorough reference check
– Other assessments
B) Conduct Inﬁnity Screening (post hire
employment checks)
C) Implement more vigorous processes
for investigating backgrounds of
Foreign Nationals
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Motivation for Workplace Violence
According to the SHRM Workplace Violence Survey the
leading motivations for workplace violence are:

#1 Personality Conﬂict
#2 Emotional problems/mental illness
#3 Family/marital/personal relationship issues
#4 Firing/Termination
#5 Work related stress
#6 Drug/alcohol use
#7 Financial/legal difficulties
#8 Poor performance review

Most of these above behaviors can be detected with a
thorough background and reference check.

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The Headline You Never
Employee Charged With Raping Customer
• Perpetrator was a convicted felon with a
long criminal history including assault and
battery.
• Employee had been suspended by previous
employer for inappropriate behavior with a
female employee.
• Company did not conduct a background check
• Company guilty of Negligent Hiring; ordered to
pay $750,000.00.

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Domestic Conﬂict
• Find out if employee involved in domestic
violence issues if they have a restraining
order.
• HR or Security interview employee in
possession of No Contact or Restraining
Orders to gather facts.
• Discuss with Threat Management Team
regarding appropriate actions to take based
on the facts of the situation.

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“Workplace Violence Prevention
is Everybody’s Business”
3. A) Invest organization resources and
time
on increasing employee awareness
of
importance of reporting threats and
incidents.
B) Ensure reporting procedures and
contact information are clear and are
widely understood.
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Why Don't Employees Report
Threats or Acts of Violence?

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Identifying Threats
4. A) Organizations need to signiﬁcantly
increase their knowledge and
awareness
of the full range of behaviors
that may
indicate an increased risk for the
potential
for an individual to commit
violence.
B) Identify the key indicators of
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Recognizing
Early Warning Signs
1. Threats: Person makes direct, veiled or conditional threats
of harm.
2. Unreasonable; Person constantly makes slighting references to others, are never
happy with what is going on and is consistently unreasonable.
3. Intimidation and Control Oriented; Person feels a need to constantly force
their opinion on others. He has a compulsive need to control others. He uses
intimidation of others to get his way (can be physical or verbal intimidation).e.g.,
fear tactics, threats, harassing behaviors including phone calls, stalking, etc.
4. Paranoid; Person thinks other employees are out to get them. She thinks there is
a conspiracy to all functions of society. She feels persecuted, or victim of
injustice.
5. Irresponsible; Person doesn’t take responsibility for any of their behaviors or
faults or mistakes, it's always someone else's fault. Blames others, the company,
the system for problems, errors and disruptive behaviors, etc.
6. Angry, Argumentative & Confrontive; Person has many hate and anger issues
on and off the job with co-workers, family, friends, or the government. He is
frequently involved in confrontations, belligerent and arguments and has low
impulse control.

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Recognizing
Early Warning Signs
7. Violence Fascination and Acceptance; Person applauds violent acts portrayed in the
media in racial incidences, domestic violence, shooting sprees, etc. He is fascinated
with the killing power of weapons and their destructive effect on people. Has extreme
interest in guns.
8. Vindictive; Person makes statements like "he will get his" or "what comes around
goes around" or "one of these days I'll have my say".
9. Bizarre Behavior: Person is quirky, strange; considered weird and behaves in unusual
manner; their presence makes others feel uncomfortable;
10. Desperation: Person expresses extreme desperation over recent family, financial or
personal problems.
11. Obsessions: Person has obsessive involvement with the job, particularly when no
apparent outside interests exist. He may have a romantic obsession with co-worker
who has no interest in him. He suffers from other forms of obsessions.
12. Substance Abuse: Person has signs of alcohol and/or drug abuse.
13. Depression: Person displays chronic signs of depression, loss of interest and confident
in life or work, is lethargic, lacks energy, particularly when this is a significant change
in behavior.

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Threat Assessment
5. Organizations need to implement a
‘risk assessment’ process :
– Internal resources, e.g., HR, Security, etc.
– Behavioral Threat Assessment Consultant
– EAP

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Anticipating Organization Violence

 Review the factors common to organizations in
which violence has occurred against your
organization.

‘Common Factors to Violence Prone Organizations’
available at www.Workplaceviolence911.com

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Threat Intervention
6. Organizations must establish an
array of possible interventions to
address identiﬁed ‘risk:’
– Supervisor has dialogue with employee
– HR has dialogue with employee
– Referral to EAP
– Fitness for Duty Assessment
– Formal Threat Assessment

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Employee Assistance Program
• Pro-actively communicate EAP to
employees; periodically discuss in staff
meetings, invite EAP to make
presentation.
• Educate supervisors about services
provided and how to make effective
referrals.
• Use EAP as a stress relief valve for
supervisors and employees.

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2-Prevention
“ If you can anticipate it, you can plan
for it”

Example:

Anticipation of a mass casualty event led
to Ft. Hood personnel being prepared and
trained to take appropriate and decisive
actions to secure the situation.

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Violence Free Workplace
Policy

Our goal is to have a violence free
workplace and we have a Zero
Tolerance for all forms of violence,
threats, mobbing, bullying and other
behaviors that imply intent to harm
anyone, and violations are firmly
dealt with.

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Creating A Violence Free
Culture
 Open communications/constant open door
 Clear and fair problem resolution processes
 Employees receive basic skill training in interpersonal relations (how to
treat people with the kind of respect and dignity you would expect to be
treated with)
 Quality Initiative, e.g., Baldridge/ISO 9000 type standards
 Employee Suggestion system supported and valued
Award
 Select employees carefully
Winning
 Policies and practices to treat 'all employees Employee
as being important, with respect and that Treatment
reinforce treating employees as responsible adults’
 Pro-actively communicated EAP

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Respect is Key
“Nothing is more important than letting a
person know that you are treating them
with respect and that you will try to help
them ﬁnd a way to save face . . . [even if
you think they don’t deserve it]”

This is particularly true when a employee is
being subjected to an adverse employment
action, e.g., disciplinary action, demotion, layoff,
termination, etc.

James Gilligan, a psychiatrist who directed mental health programs in the Massachusetts Prisons, THE WORKPLACE :
How a job can lead to deadly ends, The Times Center, International Herald Tribune, http://www.iht.com/articles/
2004/01/28/workcol_ed3__0.php

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Prevention
• Coordinate cross functional efforts to create a security
conscious work culture
• No Contact/Restraining Orders/No Trespass Orders –
individual and workplace process
• Training (warning signs, staying calm, taking reports
seriously)
• Anger management coaching and counseling
• Law Enforcement or Security Consultant meet with
potential aggressor to assess level of danger and to put
the person on notice
• Termination and other adverse action planning;
supplement with mitigation efforts
• Identify creative approaches to supplement termination
of employees posing a threat

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“Conﬂict is inevitable,
Violence is not”

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Anger Management Toolkit:
Steps to Diffusing Angry Person
 Practice active listening
 Treat the person with Respect/Acknowledge
the person’s anger – I don't blame you for
being angry”
 Give the person choices - “Would you prefer to
keep yelling at me or would rather we try to ﬁnd
a solution to this issue.”
 Get the person into a Problem Solving
dialogue - “What alternatives do he/she believe
would help resolve the issue?"
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Anger Management Toolkit:
Steps to Diffusing Angry Person

 Validate their ideas - Say something like "those
are good suggestions worth considering" or
"those
are good points, you may be on to something"
or
"you could be right in making that suggestion.”

 Stay Calm - this allows you to maintain full use
of your skills.

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Conflict Resolution Training

• Does your conflict resolution training
include skill building for supervisors
to learn how to effectively defuse
angry or hostile situations?
• Conflict resolutions skills should be a
key competency for supervisors.

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No Contact
and Restraining Orders

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No Contact

“80% of restraining orders
are effective, but the remaining
20% can be a problem”

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No Contact

“80% of restraining orders
are effective, but the remaining
20% can be a problem”

• Established a process for making
decisions regarding No Contact and
Restraining Orders.

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Key Resources
• Human Resources
• Security
• Legal
• Safety/Occupational Health
• Employee Assistance Program
• Media Spokesperson
• Managers/Supervisors
• Threat Management Team
• First Responders

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Prevention
“Stop it, before it begins”

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3-Protect
• Notify threatened employee of potential danger.
• Maintain surveillance of potential perpetrator.
• Intervene with intent of disrupting the ‘Cycle of
Aggression.’
• If trouble starts, notify Security to intervene
immediately, implement law enforcement
protocol in place (remember in active shooter
situations shots are generally ﬁred in the ﬁrst 5
minutes; plan accordingly).
• Have Crisis Response Plan prepared and ready to
put into action.

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Crisis Response Plan
• Focus is to reduce the impact on people and
business resources
• Mass communication process in place to reach
off site and onsite employees, supervisors,
clients, community, etc.
• Prepare for meeting the press ahead of time
• Communication plan with ‘First Responder’
community
• Have an ‘Active Shooter’ plan (recognize it is
different from other emergencies because of the
human element)
• Training and practice
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Response
7. Mass casualty events require a rapid
transition from normal operations to
ensure effective disaster response.
– Develop mass warning and notification
capabilities with the ability to warn all
personnel within 10 minutes of incident
notification.
– Advance preparation efforts must include
first responders to ensure an integrated
response.
8. Ensure you have a clear emergency
number for employees to call and
regularly communicate this information.
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Response

9. Train all personnel in ‘Active Shooter’
life preservation tactics.
– First responders should be trained in
‘active shooter’ tactics and procedures.
Consider joint training opportunities.

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Learning the Hard Way
10.Studies reveal that organizations
usually have a better response to a
disaster the second time around. But
the extent to which a company
prepares for a reoccurrence depends
on whether it asked the right
questions and learned the right
lessons the ﬁrst time.

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Questions To Answer to Ensure
You Learn From Other Incidents
• Would your pre-crisis assessments have identified
the issue(s) ahead of time?
• Would your mitigation efforts have sufficiently
offset the damage that occurred?
• Are your supervisors and managers equipped to
handle the type of situation that occurred?
• Have you identified post-incident risk?
• How should your workplace violence prevention
efforts be modified? immediately? long-term?
• What tactics, training, or policies need to be
revised?
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Winning the Battle Against
Workplace Violence
“80% of Success is
Preparation”

Joe Louis

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Key to Fewer Incidents
Fewer “at risk” behaviors equals
fewer incidents.

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Summary of Key Messages
• Make it clear Prevention is your goal
• Conduct Organization, Physical and Individual
Risk Assessments
• Implement Workplace Violence Prevention policy
by effectively communicating, training and
enforcing
• Consider threats of violence as a serious issue
and take proactive action to prevent escalation
• Listen to employees concerns
• Understand the Crisis Response plan and your
role in implementing it.
• Learn from other incidents

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A Never Ending Journey
The reduction of workplace violence
incidents requires on going diligence,
patience and vigilance to identify,
eliminate or mitigate and to
continuously reduce risk. It’s a never
ending journey to attempt to combat
the violent side of the human
condition.

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Workplace Violence Prevention
Resource Center
• www.Workplaceviolence911.com
– Common Factors to Violence Prone Organizations
– The Ultimate Workplace Violence Prevention Policy Maker
Software
• www.PreemploymentDirectory.com
– Comprehensive Guide for Selecting a Background Screening Firm
– Directory of Background Screening Firms
• www.OnlineReferenceChecks.com
• www.CAEPV.org (domestic violence)
• www.NAPBS.com (background screening)
• www.ASISOnline.org (workplace violence prevention
guidelines)
• www.SHRM.org (Knowledge Center)

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Thank you!
Please join us next week for
Employment Background Checks, Diploma
Mills & How to Avoid Resume Fraud
800-689-2228 Ext 1100

Kevin Connell AccuScreen.com &
W. Barry Nixon, SPHR
Next Friday August 20 2:00 PM Eastern 11:00 AM
Paciﬁc


How to Prevent Workplace Violence

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How to Prevent Workplace Violence