Workplace violence: strategies for prevention.

• Author: Ray, David

Workplace violence appears be on the rise, as indicated by the increasing reports in the media. In some cases, the events involve workers who have been reprimanded for their job performance, denied promotion, or been let go. Other instances arise from conflicts among co-workers. A prominent example is the OC Transpo Case in Ottawa where a worker was teased for stuttering and returned to the work site with a gun and killed four coworkers. There have also been situations where problems outside the workplace, such as a divorce or other forms of domestic or financial stress, result in violent acts at work. Perhaps the most disturbing incidents have been the high-profile shootings by disturbed students of teachers, staff, and other students at schools such as Columbine, Colorado.

Generally, workplace threats fall into two specific categories -- those where the intent is to intimidate and those where the intent is to actually carry out the violence. Bullies usually enact the first type. These are people that have had a great deal of success as children, and later as adults, in getting their way through threatening behaviour. They will usually back down when confronted. The second type is more dangerous because the perpetrator often does not make specific threats before taking action (although in most cases there are red flags that indicate the person is potentially violent).

Although the incidence of violent crimes has dropped in Canada in the last few years, it is still nearly twice as high on a per capita basis as it was 25 years ago. Criminologists may blame the court system, the media, violence on television and in movies, but for whatever reason, we are now a more violent society. In the US, murder is the number one cause of death in the workplace for females and the number two cause of death for males.

The general myth is that nothing can be done about it, that workplace violence is a result of cases where people just snap. The fact is that violent employees communicate multiple things to multiple people before they commit their acts. Acts of violence will vary depending on the nature of the workplace. Hospitals will see many more acts of violence than most work sites because of the number of employees, patients, and visitors that come through their doors every day. The nature of emergency or psychiatric wards often result in staff dealing with potential violence. Organizations such as banks and convenience stores, where cash is kept on hand, will be susceptible to...