Understanding Workplace Violence: NIOSH Statistics, Risk Factors, and Prevention Measures

1. Workplace Violence

2. Introduction • Public Health Problem - NIOSH

3. Agenda • Statistics, Motives, Risk Factors, Legal, Hiring, Prevention. • Ten minutes

4. Overview • 1980-89 7,600 OJM’s • Cost $4.2 Billion. • Rate Increasing. 7/92-93 rate was triple the 1989 rate. • Homicide is #2 cause of occupational fatalities • 68% Robbery • Employer directed violence has increased 2-3 times in the last ten years.

5. Motives • NIOSH • Irrational behavior 26% • Dissatisfaction with service providers 19% • Interpersonal conflict 15% • Upset at being disciplined 12% • Criminal behavior 10% • Personal problems 8% • Firing or lay off 2% • Prejudice 1%, unknown 7%

6. Employer Risk Factors • Stress of layoff • Mergers • Downsizing • Working in ”lean & mean” company

7. Most Frequent Category • Robbery • Domestic or misdirected “affection”. • Employer directed • Terrorism and hate crimes

8. Is There a Violent Profile • Males late 20’s -40’s • Have frequent job changes • Have experience with weapons • Loners with low self esteem • No close friends • Difficulty communicating with family members • Jobs are the most important & stable factor in their lives

9. The Violent Employee • Builds to the act over time • May make progressively hostile comments/threats • Many cases, warns of intended action • Blames others for all their problems • No remorse /conscience • Works years without incident

10. Problem • Warnings often ignored • Thought worker was blowing off steam • Difficulties predicting who will be violent • Psychiatric hospital and mental health center patients have a lot in common with general population.

11. Mental Patient Profile • Violent Patients in Psychiatric Hospitals • All with perceptions they believed accurate and their course of action the only logical option available. • All had genuine & severe mental illness

12. Mental Patient Profile • Outpatient Community Health Center Patients • Normal without diagnosable mental illness • Pessimistic view of reality • Personal sad tales of hurt, rejection and powerlessness. • Quiet depression, air of desperation. • Some feel like exploding • Shortage of internal/external resources to cope with stress and demands • Most work years without incident

13. Type Casting • Too difficult • Over simplistic • Overlooks other who may explode given the circumstances • Many Factors • Family, financial,

14. Situationally Dependent • Views of options and control • Part of a sequence of events and circumstances • Perpetrator influences only part of the sequence • Wrong place / Wrong time

15. VIOLENCE PREDICTION

16. Threatening Statements • Verbal threats to kill or do harm to oneself or others • Pattern of escalating threats that appear well planned • References to other incidents of workplace violence

17. Intimidating Behavior • Intimidation of coworkers • Open defiance or insubordination • Crossing of behavioral boundaries with another person (excessive phone calls, Gift giving, etc.) • Belligerent behavior • Blames others for everything that goes wrong

18. History of Violence • Assaults • Antisocial behavior • Prior criminal behavior

19. Recent Marked Performance Decline • Attendance problems • Decreased productivity • Inconsistent work patterns • Concentration problems • Increased involvement in accidents • Continual excuses

20. Personality Changes • Withdrawal • Change from introverted boisterous or obstreperous • Major changes in interpersonal relations • Decline in personal grooming

21. Mood Changes • Bizarre thoughts or paranoid behavior • Fantasies with self-centered outcomes • Irrational violent associations or thoughts • Delusional commands or statements • Secretive behavior • Strong emotional mood swings

22. Obsessions • Desire to hurt a specific person or group • Romantic attachment to someone • Preoccupation with a notoriously violent incident • Obsession with weapons, munitions, explosives, etc.

23. Serious Stress - Personal Life • Financial problems • Unprovoked crying spells • Losses: job, marriage, loved ones, children • Divorce or bankruptcy • Desperation

24. Killer Profile • Some experts say: • There’s a “Typical Profile” • Violent Worker gives some hint of future violence • More Selective hiring & screening polices may help • Companies need formal plans & resources

25. Legal Issues • Difficult & Costly to Predict • Psychological tests under attack - ADA Mental illness is covered.

26. Prediction • May be able to use knowledge to assess employee potential: • During selection process & interview • When domestic disputes spill into the workplace • When major changes are being made • During counseling of troubled worker • During course of employment

27. The Interview • Assess risk of violence • Form subjective impression of the supports a person may have • Available friends • Family • Multiple interview create a more objective basis for decision

28. Reference Checks • May ask about prior criminal convictions... not arrests that did not lead to conviction! • Background checks with prior employers is common and has high face validity

29. Fair and Uniformly Administered Policies • Train supervisors and employees on how to resolve conflicts • Develop and enforce policies which protect employees from threats/violence • Grievance Procedures - Clear channels for communicating threats • Provide job counseling for employees who are laid off or fired

30. Fair and Uniformly Administered Policies • Train supervisors to recognize signs of a troubled employee • Provide counseling EAP • Provide safety education programs • Establish crisis plan (Violence Response Team)

31. Response Team Role • Gather facts about a potentially violent situation • Decide if the company should intervene and • Identify the most appropriate method

32. RESPONSE TEAM STRATEGY

33. Conduct Initial Assessment • Determine level of response required • Lay out steps it will follow to investigate the situation

34. Develop Action Plan • Review of available information • Determination of further steps

35. Refine Action Plan • Implement plan to protect the interests of the company • Support any potential victims • Remove any threat to workplace

36. Response Team Duties • Consult with an expert to: • Provide guard or 24 hour protection service • Obtain a temporary restraining order • Gain appropriate family involvement • Notify those who need to know • Review security requirements and safety precautions based upon measured threat potential/probability.

37. Response Team Duties • Determine emergency coordination and notification requirements • Establish privacy protection and communication procedures • Determine and involve EAP support requirements • Determine and enlist security and medical support based upon requirements • Re-evaluation as facts forward and plan new interventions

38. Response Team Duties • Debriefing teams reports after every episode: • Review of the facts and actions taken • Determine what can be learned from how the situation was handled • Support the team members who participated