Workplace Violence (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1 )
by one employee to another: • “I’m going to beat you up after work.” • “Employees who kill their supervisors have the right idea.” • “I’m afraid I’m going to lose control, and I have guns.” All such statements are serious matters. “You need to take action right away in response to any workplace threat,” says John M. White, President of Protection Man- agement, a consulting firm in Canton, Ohio ( protection- managementllc.com ). “If you ignore it, other employees will believe that making threats is okay. Then, eventually, someone may well carry out their threat.” All employees must realize that if they say it, it’s as bad as if they did it. Grey Areas Some employee actions fall into the category of dis- ruptive activity rather than workplace violence. Maybe Barbara tosses a pile of papers on the floor and begins to scream about how lousy the company is. The correct response to such an event is to counsel Barbara, come to a better understanding of the cause of her anger, and enlist her aid in improving the workplace environment. If Barbara were to knock a laptop off the desk in anger, on the other hand, she might be disciplined for destruction of company property. Still other actions fall into a grey zone between harm- less and harmful. What should you do, for example, when humor contains a violent element? Suppose Sam tells
York City and Charlotte, North Carolina ( naterassociates. com ). “Yet they’re no better than large organizations at predicting when disgruntled employees will transition into
violent action.” Viable Threats
Every employer must take steps to prepare for an un- expected act of workplace violence. Experts say that an effective policy starts with understanding the various man- ifestations of violence—including less extreme behaviors that too often grow into something worse. “Most employers think of violence in terms of physical assault or homicide,” says Nater. “However, it can also take the form of threatening behavior, verbal abuse, intimida- tion, and harassment.” Threatening behavior, says Nater, can mean the shak- ing of fists, confrontation with or threatening of a victim with objects, and blocking another person’s movement. Even non-physical actions can qualify: “Violence can take the form of words, gestures, intimidation and bullying, and inappropriate conduct such as swearing, insults and con- descending language.” Many such acts, he says, can rise to the level of harassment, activity which attempts to “de- mean, embarrass, humiliate, annoy, or cause alarm.” Any viable threat to cause bodily harm is an act of vi- olence—and constitutes a crime under most state laws. Here are some examples in the form of statements made
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June 28, 2021
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