Seminar offers tips to ward off workplace violence
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2002
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Violent assaults in the American workplace are becoming a serious issue, and an American Furniture Manufacturers Assn. seminar earlier this year addressed the issue.
Speakers offered background and suggestions for employers to ward off such incidents.
"Last year there were 9 million assaults at work, 1 million of which were violent," said Charles Simmons, keynote speaker and vice president of field operations for Norred & Associates, a corporate security firm in Atlanta. "Murder is now the second leading cause of death at work, second only to motor vehicle accidents."
Simmons said the increase in workplace violence can be attributed to a variety of factors, including substance abuse, glamorization of violence in the media, the availability of guns, the breakdown in family and community ties, and company downsizing and layoffs.
James Wimberly Jr., a principal in the management labor law firm of Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Nelson & Schneider in Atlanta, said companies can face legal problems if they fail to protect employees from "recognized hazards" in the workplace. Courts have recently interpreted those hazards to include potentially violent employees or former employees.
Wimberly cited a 1999 case in which a North Carolina jury awarded nearly $8 million to the families of two men killed at a plant when a fired employee went on a shooting rampage.
"The key issue was whether the company officials properly protected employees from a former employee, who was fired two days earlier because of a string of violent incidents," he said. He recommended developing a workplace violence prevention and security program. Such a program could include:
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A written company policy prohibiting acts of violence and banning weapons on company property.
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Thorough background checks, including criminal records, for prospective employees.
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Training managers and supervisors to recognize signs of trouble
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Establishing procedures for reporting and investigating complaints.
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Providing counseling when necessary.
Workplace security and violence prevention issues will be addressed again at the Human Resources/Safety Conference-Expo Sept. 11-14 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. For information, call the AFMA office in High Point, (336) 884-5000.
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