Questions—And Answers

HR’s Role in Preventing Workplace Violence

Lynn D. Lieber

According to the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Bureau of

Labor Statistics’s (BLS’s) recently published fact sheet, workplace
shootings account for roughly 10 percent of all work-related
deaths per annum in the United States.
In 2009, 12 percent of all work-related deaths were homicides,
out of the total 18 percent classified under the assaults and vio-
lent acts category.1
Even more alarming is the fact that workplace homicides are
now the second-highest cause of work-related deaths in United
States, trailing only transportation fatalities such as workers
killed in highway accidents. Surprisingly, the average retail
employee is more likely to be shot fatally by a coworker than a
construction worker is to fall to his death or be killed by operat-
ing heavy equipment.2
Sales and related occupations accounted for 26 percent of
decedents in shootings. Most shootings occurred in the private
sector (86 percent); 14 percent of shootings occurred in govern-
ment. Of the shootings within the private sector, 88 percent
occurred within service-providing industries, mostly in trade,
transportation, and utilities.3
Employers’ lack of recognition and prevention of workplace
violence is alarming. Over 70 percent of US workplaces have no
formal program or policy that addresses workplace violence. Of
the 30 percent of workplaces in the United States that had any
type of formal workplace violence policy, only 44 percent have a
policy to address domestic violence in the workplace. Only 4
percent of all establishments train employees on domestic vio-
lence and its impact on the workplace.4

© 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 83

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ert.20325
Employment Relations Today

This column addresses questions related to workplace violence that are

often overlooked or misunderstood by employers. This article is intended to
alert HR professionals to the risks of workplace violence at their organiza-
tion, the warning signs of violence, and the troubling intersection of domes-
tic violence with workplace violence and immediate, while also providing
proactive steps HR professionals can take now to avoid inappropriate work-
place aggression that can lead up to workplace violence.

IS YOUR ORGANIZATION AT HEIGHTENED RISK?

“It could never happen here.” This is a common misconception regarding

workplace violence. Another common misconception is that perpetrators
of workplace violence just suddenly “snap” one day and go on a reckless ram-
page. A violent outburst is much more often the result of a “slow burn”—an
accumulation of unresolved personal problems or multiple stress factors.
Those who commit violent acts often plan and prepare their attacks with
great precision. In many cases, the victims of these attacks are targeted
because the perpetrator believes they are responsible for his or her current
difficulties.
A New York Times study of 100 rampage murders concluded, “Most of the
killers ‘spiraled down a long, slow slide, mentally and emotionally.’”5
According to a USA Today series on workplace violence, in eight of the ten
cases analyzed, killers forewarned of the impending attack, making specific
threats and showing coworkers weapons at work. Some even discussed their
plans openly.6
Despite evidence that most killers gave multiple signs that they were
in trouble, management consistently fails to take reports from concerned
employees seriously or implement extra precautions. Many factors con-
tribute to violent outbursts. Eruptions of violence at work may stem from
a variety of unresolved grievances. This is significant because it refutes the
common misconception that individuals “just snap”—or “go postal”—without
identifiable motives or goals. In many cases, the victims are targeted
because the perpetrator believes them to be responsible for their current dif-
ficulties. With proper training and well-implemented policies and proce-
dures, situations can be identified and resolved before they end in physical
violence or tragedy.7

WHAT ARE THE WARNING SIGNS OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE?

Most cases of full-fledged acts of workplace violence start with inappropri-

ate workplace aggression—any action or inaction that is intended to cause
harm to an organization or an individual in the workplace. Organizations

84 Lynn D. Lieber
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert
 Winter 2011

may consider inappropriate workplace aggression to be all such behavior

that doesn’t rise to the level of physical violence. However, inappropriate
aggression still falls under the umbrella of workplace violence. If left
unchecked, inappropriate workplace aggression can lead to workplace vio-
lence.
Some acts that can constitute inappropriate workplace aggression include
both active and passive behaviors, such as ostracism, sabotage, certain acts
of sexual harassment, workplace pranks, bullying situations, yelling or
screaming, swearing, throwing objects, slamming doors, withholding neces-
sary information, use of derogatory names, aggressive eye contact, negative
rumors, ridicule, explosive outbursts of anger, and so on.
If an employee exhibits sharp or noticeable behavioral changes, you
should pay attention. These clues are often newly acquired negative traits
that become more prevalent as the aggressor moves closer to taking action.
Taken alone, direct or implied threats, intimidation, harassment, repeated
confrontations, and increasingly obstinate behavior do not mean an individ-
ual will commit an act of violence. However, any increase in intensity or
frequency of violence indicators is an important sign that there may be trou-
ble ahead.
Perpetrators often experience personal events or circumstances that lead
them to commit violent acts in the workplace. These include escalating
domestic problems (divorce, custody battles, and the loss of a loved one);
lack of social support or increasing isolation; feelings of extreme depression
and desperation to the point of contemplating suicide; and health problems
or substance abuse. Financial problems also often lead to workplace
violence, and these include bankruptcy or foreclosure, unresolved debts, or
wage garnishments. Financial problems may become evident with large
withdrawals from or the closure of organizational accounts. These financial
indicators are more prevalent with the negative economic impacts of the
current recession.
Indicators that personal or financial problems may be leading to trouble
at work include bringing a weapon to work or exhibiting a fascination with
weapons; frequent job changes or gaps in employment history; unexplained
absences or tardiness to work; and blatant disregard for workplace rules.

HOW DOES INTIMATE-PARTNER VIOLENCE INTERSECT

WITH WORKPLACE VIOLENCE?

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, Robert Stewart is currently being tried after

being charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in 2009. Stewart is
charged in the shooting deaths of eight people at a Carthage nursing home,
where his estranged wife worked. The shooting spree left seven patients and

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one nurse dead. A Carthage police officer confronted Stewart and shot and
wounded him, though Stewart wounded the officer as well. Stewart’s
estranged wife hid in the bathroom of a locked Alzheimer’s patient area and
survived the attack.
October 6, 2010, marked a year since a Winston-Salem police officer died
from injuries in a shooting following a domestic disturbance. Police say
Monte Evans brought a gun to the Bojangles restaurant while his estranged
wife was at work there. A police sergeant was shot in the face, and his fel-
low officer was wounded. The sergeant died five days later.
Intimate-partner violence, also called domestic violence, increasingly spills
over into the workplace. The statistics are shocking. One in four women in the
United States experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. For businesses, the
cost is $727 million annually in lost productivity and $4 billion for direct medi-
cal and health-care costs, most of which are absorbed by employers, according
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to
the CDC, victims of intimate-partner violence lose a total of nearly 8.0 million
days of paid work—the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs—and
nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity as a result of the violence.8
Despite these alarming statistics, many employers do not take intimate part-
ner violence as a serious workplace threat. In late 2007, the Corporate Alliance
to End Partner Violence (CAEPV), Liz Claiborne, and Safe Horizon released a
groundbreaking survey on corporate executives and employee awareness of the
impact of intimate-partner violence in the workplace. Surprisingly, the survey
shows that a significant majority of corporate executives and their employees
from the nation’s largest companies recognize the harmful and extensive
impact of intimate-partner violence in the workplace, yet only 13 percent of
corporate executives think their companies should address the problem.
Although nearly two in three corporate executives (63 percent) say that
intimate-partner violence is a major problem in our society, and 55 percent
cite its harmful impact on productivity in their companies, a majority of top
executives have blinders on when it comes to recognizing that victims of
such abuse exist in their own companies.

WHAT STEPS CAN HR TAKE IMMEDIATELY TO CURTAIL

THE RISK OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE?

A critical role of HR is to ensure a safe work environment for all employees.

This requires that all HR managers understand how to minimize the risk of
workplace violence, recognize the signs that may indicate that an employee
is either the victim of violence or a potential perpetrator of violence in the
workplace, and learn how to diffuse situations that may lead to workplace
violence. What follows are some specific steps HR should take to prevent
workplace violence.

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1. Conduct Thorough Background Screening. It is paramount that HR person-

nel and hiring managers do their due diligence when screening prospec-
tive hires to ensure they are doing all that is possible to provide a safe
and productive work environment for their employees.
Hiring someone with a history of violence, or even a wanted criminal,
because a background check was not conducted in the screening process
could mean the difference between life and death for employers and
employees alike. Such actions could also be considered civil negligence,
resulting in large awards against the employer for not taking appropriate
steps to create and maintain a safe workplace.
2. Create and Implement a New Workplace-Violence Prevention Policy. Make sure
your organization’s workplace-violence prevention policy is up to date, or
create and implement one if your organization is lacking in this area.
The policy should include definitions of what constitutes inappropri-
ate workplace aggression and how to report inappropriate workplace
aggression and/or threats of workplace violence. The policy should
include a statement that your organization strictly enforces “zero toler-
ance” regarding any acts of inappropriate workplace aggression/
workplace violence. The policy should also specify that there will be no
retaliation for filing a complaint of actual or potential inappropriate
workplace aggression/workplace violence. It also should detail how
reports of inappropriate workplace aggression will be investigated and
what actions can be taken to address such behavior.
Because of the recent use of technology, the Internet, and social
media in bullying and other forms of aggression, your organization’s
workplace-violence prevention policy should include prohibitions against
the inappropriate use of electronic media in the workplace and detail the
actions the company will take for related violations.
3. Train, Train, Train! Most employers acknowledge the importance of train-
ing related to preventing inappropriate workplace aggression and work-
place violence. However, only a small percentage of employers actually
conduct such training. Even fewer employers do so with regularity or for
new hires. Workplace-violence-prevention training can be easy and cost-
effective, especially with the growing prevalence of online training.
Many organizations conduct such training in-house, with a special focus
on the organization’s specific risk areas. Workplace-violence prevention
training should be conducted approximately once a year for the entire
employee population and should be mandatory for all new hires, even
temporary and part-time employees.
4. Recognize and Act on the Warning Signs. In addition to the warning signs
and triggering events of perpetrators, as described earlier, HR professionals
should be alert to the warning signs exhibited by victims of inappropriate

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workplace aggression/workplace violence. Victims’ attendance and job per-

formance often decline, and they may be uncomfortable in or refuse to
attend meetings or refuse to work on projects with their perpetrators. Some
warning signs that a coworker may be the victim of intimate-partner vio-
lence include the worker wearing sunglasses indoors or on cloudy days,
reporting to work with unexplained bruises, or frequently missing work or
showing up late.

Notes

1. US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010, July). Workplace violence fact sheet.
Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/osar0014.htm.
2. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010, July 14). Fatality data are from the Census of Fatal Occupational
Injuries. Retrieved from www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/osar0014.htm.
3. Ibid.
4. Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence. (2005, October). Survey of workplace violence preven-
tion. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/iif/osh_wpvs.htm.
5. Goodstein, L., & Glaberson, W. (2000, April 10). The well-marked roads to homicidal rage. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/10/us/the-well-marked-roads-to-homicidal-rage.html.
6. Armour, S. (2004, July 14). Managers not prepared for workplace violence. USA Today. Retrieved
from http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2004-07-15-workplace-violence2_x.htm.
7. Ibid.
8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2003, March). Costs of intimate partner violence
against women in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pub/
IPV_cost.html.

Lynn D. Lieber, Esq., is founder and CEO of Workplace Answers, a San

Francisco–based provider of Web-based legal compliance training.
Lieber is a seasoned employment law attorney and a nationally recog-
nized spokeswoman on harassment and discrimination law. Workplace
Answers delivers Web-based training in human resources, unlawful
harassment prevention, and financial and ethics compliance. The com-
pany helps client organizations build an effective affirmative defense
under local, state, and federal employment law. She may be contacted at
www.workplaceanswers.com.

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