Putting the Threat of Workplace Violence In Perspective...

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The Security Consultant's Perspective...Putting the threat of violence and security in the workplacefollowing September 11, 2001 in perspective has a broader meaningand greater appreciation.
The price... The Security Consultant's Perspective...Putting the threat of violence and security in the workplacefollowing September 11, 2001 in perspective has a broader meaningand greater appreciation.
The price of Workplace Violence has a physical,emotional and financial toll on the victims, witnesses and thebusinesses. While worst-case scenarios are not the norm,incidents of assaults, homicides, threats and acts of sabotageare real in the typical workplace.
However, the simple butequally annoying and escalating hostile conduct creates emotionalcontagions and spontaneous responses. When thinking of workplaceviolence one should consider situations and events of any typethat if left uncorrected could escalate into a violent response.Service employees being harassed on their routes, nurses fearfulof conducting home visits, plant employees taunting another, useof increased resources to protect threatened employees andsalesmen who resign rather than do business in certainneighborhoods are all realities at work.
Even though reportedincidents of violence are down for 2003 according to the Bureauof Labor Statistics security awareness should continue to remainhigh on the prevention category.Some Statistics About Workplace Violence... According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 11% (631) of the 5,559 fatal occupational injuries in 2003 resulted in homicide (mostly by shootings).
A March 2004, FBI Report estimated that nearly 80% of these workplace homicides are committed by criminals with no other connection to the workplace, who have committed robberies or other violent crimes. In the areas of Non-fatal occupational injuries, BLS reported that 18,104 such incidents in 2002 resulted from assaults and violent acts by person, representing nearly 1.3% of the 1.4 million reported occupational injuries and illnesses.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, (BJS) US Department of Justice, in 2002 nearly 750,000 crimes of violence were committed each year against people at work or on duty and another 170,000 against people traveling to and from work.In January 2004, the Society of Human Resource Managers reportedthe results of their own internal survey on workplace violence.Roughly, almost two-thirds of HR Professionals who respondedreported that at least one incident of 'violence" had occurredsince 200o. Most common were incidents of inappropriate language,verbal abuse or verbal threats.In May 2004, the American Society of Safety Engineers' (ASSE)survey on workplace violence reported that 44% of 750respondents had indicated that their place of work had beenvictim to incidents of violence since 1998.
While threats do notharm victims, the mere utterance damages perceptions ofmanagement's ability to provide for a safe workplace if nocorrective action is taken.The risk of violence comes in a variety of different forms.Following September 11, 2001 threats escalated to the use ofpotentially harmful chemical and biological agents, directedtargets of violence, bomb threats and an increase in threatsagainst businesses. The ASSE survey also revealed that 74% of the750 respondents had not under-gone any formal risk assessment ormanagement of the potential for violence in the workplace.
Tokeep it simple and for a later discussion, if you work in anelectrical or gas plant you should know the risks.What Others Are Saying About Workplace Security... The landscape of workplace security has changed followingSeptember 11, 2001 and the subsequent threats.
Once relegated tothe back room of IT and facility management departments,corporate security issues have risen to such prominence over thepast three years that security concerns now have truly becomecorporate concerns. Robert Hahn, VP, Strategy & Secure Mail forPitney Bowes Management Services, asks, "how does one calculatethe loss to a company if an office building is shut down for twoto three days due to a false alarm?".
For example, to cleanbuildings like in the case of the two Anthrax infected PostOffices on the east coast required $150 million dollars and 30months-time during which the facilities were shut down to all butthe clean up crews and law enforcement, said, Robert Hahn. Thethreat is real along with a host of other potential threats;Terrorist demands, Business discontinuance, Theft of sensitivedata and intellectual property, malicious computer viruses andintranet attacks, Key personnel taken hostage, Travel securityconcerns and Sabotage by disgruntled employee.In a July 2004 on-line survey conducted by Pitney Bowes, theyasked the participants to define what the term "security" meantto them.
89% of the 409 respondents viewed security in broadbased terms: protecting company information, protecting businesssystems and competitive intelligence. Between 65 - 71% viewedsecurity as issues of physical and people security and privacy ofemployee information.
Only 31% believed that their security wasconnected to neighboring facilities, roads or telecommunicationsystems. The responses in this particular survey correspond tothe ASSE Survey wherein 44% or 335 of the 750 respondents saidthey had established or changed emergency response procedures.
I can not reflecting on my age old adage that "Security is everyone's business and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound in cure". Article Tags: Workplace Violence, Occupational Injuries Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .