Weapon policies at work – Employers aim to dampen violence

from Dick Baggett, Scripps Newspaper Group

Why would an organization develop a policy to govern weapons in the workplace?

A 2006 survey shows that 84 percent of the time, the policy is developed in relation to workplace violence. Employers seek to minimize the possibility of workplace violence occurring by completely eliminating weapons, mainly concealed handguns.

For several years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has listed homicide as one of the top causes for death in the workplace.

Other internal issues that bring about weapons policies were labor union concerns (25 percent), employee concerns (24 percent), and safety and security incidents that had previously happened in the workplace (8 percent), according to the 2006 Weapons in the Workplace Survey Report by the Society for Human Resource Management.

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