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By Richard D. Sem

The realities and risks of workplace violence often spread through news reports of the worst cases. Through news, books, seminars and other means, the concern over the workplace violence issue has been significantly heightened over the past 20 years — and yet violence still happens in our workplaces and schools. What more can be done? What more can be said?

Too often we make a checkmark that we did something about workplace violence and yet we allow or even encourage conditions that could precipitate threatening behavior and violence. What many organizations call a “workplace violence program” is simply a statement against violence and threatening behavior on the job; a ban on weapons on the property; a requirement to report; and possibly some sort of zero-tolerance policy.

Threats and violence in workplaces happen most often where the early warning signs and escalation of such behavior was ignored until it was too late. Merely putting out a policy does not mean people will recognize and report their concerns, supervisors will do the right thing, or anything will happen to mitigate and properly respond to incidents.

The Basics

Before moving on to discuss concrete prevention and response steps, first understand a few basic concepts of workplace violence. Violence tends to escalate from early indications of intimidating and unstable behavior and that — with the exception of violence caused by an unknown outsider, such as a robbery — there may have been early warning signs that were possibly ignored and unreported until it was too late. Any person in the workplace could be a victim or perpetrator of violence, including employees, ex-employees, contracted employees, visitors, customers, patients, family members, spouses and ex-spouses, and girl/boyfriends. And violence may flare during or after a stress-raising incident, often called a triggering or precipitating event, such as a termination, lay-off or discipline.

Workplace Violence Prevention

Respect, civility and preserving dignity: People learn by example, and managers and supervisors who treat their people with disrespect or disregard should not be surprised when their people treat each other with contempt or neglect. Too often I have found workplaces and even schools where an atmosphere of intimidation and mutual resentment has been created and fostered, often resulting in bullying, threats, potentially hazardous horseplay and violence. It may seem obvious, but the best way to manage a civil workplace is to always lead with the Golden Rule in mind — treat others as you would want to be treated, especially if you were the one being laid off or disciplined.

Keep in mind that disability ( ADA ) and privacy issues may come into play when dealing with threatening and intimidating behavior. While we should never take an action against a person based on their mental illness — as with any disciplinary situation we should be dealing with a person's actual and documented words and actions as they are violations of established policies rather than on whom or what they are.

Above all, in dealing with people in your workplace — especially with those who are most difficult and problematic — take care to preserve their dignity. For some, if they perceive that they have lost their dignity, they may perceive they have nothing left to lose. Such is the birth of many violent episodes.

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