Most people assume the workplace is always a safe place. Who wouldn’t want to think the place they spend 40 hours per week was safe? Yet that is not the always the truth. From the farming accidents of agricultural societies to disfigurements of the industrial era, to workplace fights and attacks that happen today, the truth is that the workplace has always been fairly dangerous.

Workplace violence can’t be predicted but it can be curbed

A 1986 shooting in Edmund, Oklahoma changed the nature of how we define workplace violence however. In that shooting a postal worker shot and killed his coworkers. After that the public image of workplace...

Why should your company think about violence in the workplace?

Annually over 500,000 cases of workplace violence occurred in the United States. This is actually down from the 1990-2000 time frames.  What can you do? You can have a planned response, a program or procedure in place that provides an answer to the question, “What am I supposed to do when this happens?” What does your company need to do to be aware of to help prevent or react to workplace violence? Each company is different, but for you to help secure workplace safety in your company, you have to evaluate your risk, determine potential solutions, and educate your employees to be...