Workplace Violence: General Threat Management Concepts

Studies show that violence is the leading cause of death for women on the job and the second leading cause of death for men. As such, violence in the workplace is a major concern for individuals and businesses. Homicides, assaults, threats and harassment in the workplace will probably increase in frequency into the next century because the contributing factors identified for this problem will not abate. These include continuing decline in the support and control of the family, church and community on individual behavior; the process of employer restructuring, downsizing and realignments; the growing number of untreated mentally ill, both within and outside the work force; and the relentless media coverage of incidents of workplace violence. To reduce workplace violence, there is a need for effective threat management. A major aspect of threat management is that the threat needs to be identified and thoroughly assessed in order to carry out effective interventions. This article outlines some of the important issues in this process.

THREAT MANAGEMENT
Any security program at any level of application is meant first to divert someone from committing an unsafe or harmful act, and only if diversion is unsuccessful, to delay the undesirable until trained individuals can respond. The solution to any given incident of workplace violence demands that we understand the current emotional and mental state of the threatener and divert the person from violence. Early awareness of the problem allows thorough assessment and successful intervention.

The types of incidents against which a Threat Management Program can help provide a safe workplace include:

Harassment, discrimination and other unacceptable but initially nonviolent workplace behavior may also escalate and then be dealt with as a part of the threat management process. A Threat Management Program can also help control liability exposure and damage to productivity and workplace morale.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DYNAMIC OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
What is known about incidents of workplace violence which have not involved robbery is that they are not caused by individuals who snap one day and decide to act violently. These incidents are caused by persons who have progressed through a series of emotional and behavioral stages before becoming violent and come to believe that violence is the only way to solve their problem. They are emotionally driven to act, may be mentally unbalanced and may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the incident. Instigators who have survived an incident have said that if someone had been able to listen, understand and work with them, they would not have acted violently. This means that the most effective means for resolution requires:

In general, the scale of violent behavior ranges from disgruntlement, to nonspecific verbal intimidation, then nonspecific verbal threats with specific verbal threats, then written threats, then physical violence against property, then physical violence against people without the use of weapons, and finally, physical violence against people with weapons. An individual could move back and forth across the scale, skipping steps or creating new ones, escalating or de-escalating behavior. But each movement back up the scale will involve behavior which is increasingly more serious. The entire process leading to an act of physical violence will normally occur within one year of a precipitating incident, but it can take longer. The process can also occur within as short time span as a week.

Psychological and behavioral assessment requires obtaining as much information as possible about the threatening individual. Particular attention should be paid to any past history of stressful events (death, divorce, job loss, financial pressure, etc.) and reactions to them. One of the biggest myths is that workplace violence is unpredictable. Researchers in this area agree that violence is predictable and the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Clearly, it is better to recognize warning signs of potential violence early before a person feels the need for carrying out assaults. For this reason, it is wise to train all personnel about the warning signs of potential violence so that major incidents can be avoided. Future articles will discuss other issues such as: organization of a threat management team, incident reporting, assessing the threat, how to terminate the employment of a worker who has carried out violence, and follow-up concerns after an incident of violence.

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