When a co-worker becomes a threat: Violence at the office

By Tracy Kennedy, The Register Citizen

The murder of Yale University lab technician Annie Le has turned a spotlight on the nationwide problem of violence in the workplace.

The national Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports some 2 million American workers are victims of workplace violence a year. From 1992 to 2006, 11,613 people were the victims of homicide at work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Though many experts call workplace violence underreported, it is not uncommon, by far. The alleged slaying of Annie Le by a coworker may have been the most recent case of violence in the workplace reported in the media, but it is not the only one.

In August, for example, Taco Bell Corp. agreed to settle a sexual harassment complaint that federal officials said grew out of the rape of two teenage girls who worked in Memphis, Tenn. According to a consent decree signed by U.S. District Judge Bernice B. Donald, Taco Bell agreed to conduct training on the prevention of workplace harassment in the greater Memphis area.

Earlier this month, a Petersburg, Va. man was been convicted of first-degree murder in the execution-style slaying of another man in the parking lot of a factory in Chester.

Last week, employees of a farm equipment business were hailed for stopping a fellow employee from committing additional carnage after he opened fire on a colleague with a shotgun. After killing 33-year-old Ralph Wallis and shooting up equipment, authorities say 46-year-old Jim Badasci then turned the gun on himself.

Workplace violence is a broad category used to describe incidents that pose a risk to employees from convenience store robberies to taxi driver muggings, but employee-to-employee homicides are less common.

“Employers need to recognize the likelihood of homicides at work place is very, very small, but the incidents of threatening, harassment and intimidation are very high,” Steve Kaufer, co-founder of the Workplace Violence Institute said. Kaufer’s company offers training for employers who want to take proactive step toward curbing a growing national trend.

Employers are responsible for providing a safe work environment for employees. Costly litigation is usually a strong incentive for employers to take action. “Over the years we have seen more and more organizations who want to avoid incidents in their workplace realizing that if something does happen, typically it is followed by litigation, which can be very expensive,” Kaufer said.

With an 18 percent increase in reported incidents over the last year, the sliding economy is considered a major factor. Every employee brings personal problems to work, but the pervading fear of company reorganization, competition for promotions and widespread layoffs puts most employees on edge.

“The Le case is very tragic,” Kaufer said. Over time more information about a motive may come to light, but it’s not unusual that employees get upset with each other about differing standards or tasks that are not completed as expected by a co-worker. “We try to help employers identify these tensions before conflicts arise,” Kaufer said.

Most employers have control over many safety issues in their work place, but careful screening of employees, proper training, and conflict resolution techniques are not always a priority. Employees who sense a budding conflict should approach a superior, he recommended.

When a employer has a program in place to deal with conflicts employees become more aware and incidents can be avoided, Kaufer said.