Emergency Management content from EHS Today: Of the 4,383 workers who died on the job last year, 767 were the victims of workplace violence, according to preliminary 2012 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number includes 463 homicides and 225 suicides.
During a breakout session at the 2013 America's Safest Companies Conference in Atlanta, experts urged employers to develop policies and procedures that address workplace violence, terrorist attacks and catastrophic accidents – and sticking to them.
3 comments:
Wow! I didn't realize that this happened so often. I know the University and my previous places I have interned/worked at had policies, but they never actually bothered training,teaching, or even telling anybody the policies. The only reason I knew some of them was because I stumbled upon them and read them. I honestly hope nothing happens here that we would need these protocols we have in place. And now that I think about it, I guess some departments, like the School of Drama, cover these topics, I just missed it. But many departments/colleges (like probably all of Dietrich) don't have any or know of the policies for evacuation, lockdown, chemical spill, or whatever else may happen. On that note, I'm pretty sure the university doesn't even have a campus wide PA system, just CMU Alert, which not everybody gets/is signed up for.
It's crazy to me that 10% of all workplace deaths last year were homicides. That's a huge percentage! This article is about developing plans to deal with violent situations in the workplace, but some big things that I don't see in the article are strategies to avoid escalation entirely. While it's certainly important to have contingencies in place for a shooter on the job etc, I wish the article would have also mentioned things designed to avoid employee grievances so severe they feel they have no other option.
For example, having an HR department who takes interpersonal conflicts seriously, and creating a culture based on mutual respect and open communication are both ways companies can mitigate workers' feelings of stress and frustration, two things that can trigger violent outbursts. Clearly, some people will still feel as though violence is their only alternative, but at least this is a way to try and prevent violence from happening in the first place, rather than to simply try and contain it.
While this is a slightly more attention grabbing article than the last one I commented on, it seems like this is not really as helpful as it could be toward the type of violence it is focusing on. If there is a really phyco working in your office, then chances are you will have no idea and there would not have been any way to have stopped what ever it is they do if/when they crack. I was very suppressed to read that over 200 workplace deaths were suicides tough! It is hard enough to fathom someone really wanting to commit suicide, but trying to come up a reason that someone would do it at work, a place that usually involves at least somewhat of a social environment, is near impossible. I'm thinking perhaps some of these were the people who shoot co-workers and then ended it for themselves as well, because that is just a very big number of work place suicides. Also I am really glad they mentioned having all of the disaster plans in a work place. I think those are very important not only to have but for each employee to be aware of where applicable, but I know not all places use them to the extent that they should.
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