1. Chapter 16 managing workplace safety
Thursday, June 23, 2011 Management and Information Processing (cont.)
Chapter 16 managing workplace safety
Odgers, Administrative Office Management with Workbook, 13th edition, Cengage Learning, 2008.

2. Objectives:
Identify the components of the crisis management program that deals with the four types of workplace violence.
Describe the major content areas of a workplace safety policy.
Defend the need for companies to use pre- employment background checks.
List steps that managers and employees can take to identify and prevent acts of workplace violence.
Discuss the need for plans that deal with the aftermath of workplace violence.

3. Introduction
Changes in the American workplace have created a fertile breeding ground for discontent and potential violence.
In virtually no other high-risk area is education, training, planning, and prevention as vital as in the case of managing and ensuring safety in the workplace.

4. Companies can help protect employees and keep them safe—and the firms free from lawsuits—if they face behavior problems directly, heed warning signs, train managers in violence prevention, intervene skillfully and quickly, and take all threats seriously.
Businesses should have clear, strong, fair, and consistent written policies against violence and harassment, along with effective grievance procedures, efficient security programs, a reasonably supportive work environment, open channels of communication, and employee training in resolving conflicts through team-building and negotiation skills.

5. Scope of safety management
Managers increasingly occupy a pivotal role in an organization’s violence prevention program.
They not only must know how to help create a safe work environment, but also must understand the ramifications of what can happen when a company doesn’t live up to the law and to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) requirements.

6. OSHA requires employers to provide their employees with a place to work that is
“free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to Employees.”
Designed to encourage companies to take steps to prevent violence in the workplace, criminal penalties may be imposed against an employer who is convicted of having willfully violated an OSHA standard or rule.

7. Workplace Violence
OSHA defines workplace violence as any physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting.
According to OSHA, 2 million workers are victims of workplace violence each year.

8. Basis for Safety Management
Stress
Road rage
Air rage
Desk rage

9. In Corporate America, we have desk rage.
Desk rage can take the form of yelling, verbal abuse, rudeness, destroying equipment, and overall negativity.
In extreme cases, it could be a precursor to workplace violence.

10. Downsizings
Longer hours
Greater workloads
Higher productivity demands
Lack of interpersonal communication, and
Feeling that work is never-ending
are all contributing factors to the need for managing safety in the workplace.

11. According to Michael Mantell and Steve Albrecht in Ticking Bombs: Defusing Violence in the Workplace,
the cost of workplace violence to American businesses runs more than $4 billion annually, including lost work time, employee medical benefits, and legal expenses.

12. Additional costs of workplace violence include:
Replacing lost employees
Retraining new employees
Decreased productivity
Higher insurance premiums
Raised security costs
Bad publicity
Lost business
Expensive litigation

13. FYI
The Workplace Violence Prevention Reporter states that the average out-of-court settlement for this kind of litigation is about $500,000.
The average jury award is $3 million and can skyrocket from there.

14. Types of Work Place Violence
Violence by strangers
Violence by customers or clients
Violence by coworkers
Violence by person relations

15. Type 1: Violence by Strangers
Verbal threats
Threatening behavior
Physical assaults by an assailant who has no legitimate business relationship to the workplace.
Ex. Robber entering the workplace to commit a robbery.

16. To eliminate violence by strangers, inspections for workplace security hazards include:
Reviewing the need for security surveillance
Posting highly visible signs notifying the public that limited cash is kept on the premises.
Developing employee response procedures during a robbery or other criminal act.
Creating procedures for employees to use to report suspicious persons or activities.

17. Posting emergency telephone numbers for law enforcement, fire, and medical services where employees have access to a telephone with an outside line.
Ensuring that staffing levels during evenings and at other high-risk times are sufficient for protection and safety purposes.
Ensuring that doors are locked after hours and entry is possible only by those who have a reason to be in the building after hours.

18. Escorting employees to their cars or to their mass transit stops at the end of the workday.
Checking that lighting and security for designated parking lots or other work areas are adequate.

19. Type 2: Violence by Customers or Clients
Verbal threats
Threatening behavior
Physical assaults by an assailant who either receives services from or is under the custodial supervision of the affected workplace or the victim.
Ex. Current or former customers, patients, prisoners, students, or passengers.

20. Inspections for workplace security hazards from violence by customers or clients include:
Assessing the frequency and severity of threatening or hostile situations that may lead to violent acts by persons who are service recipients.
Training employees on how to safely handle threatening or hostile customers or clients.
Installing and using alarms or panic button systems to warn others of a security danger or to summon assistance.

21. Type 3: Violence by Coworkers
Verbal threats
Threatening behavior
Physical assaults by an assailant who maintains a form of job-related involvement with the workplace.
Ex. Current or former employee, supervisor or manager.
Individual may be seeking revenge or a type of payback.

22. Inspections for workplace security hazards from violence by coworkers include:
Assessing how well the anti-violence policy has been communicated to employees and managers.
Determining how well employees and managers have been trained to know the warning signs of potential workplace violence.
Identifying the risks related to access to and freedom of movement within the workplace by non-employees, specifically recently discharged employees.

23. Researching any prior violent acts, threats of physical violence, verbal abuse, property damage, or other signs of strain or pressure in the workplace.
Re-evaluating the employee disciplinary and discharge procedures to ensure fairness in its application to all employees.

24. Type 4: Violence by Personal Relations
Can include a current or former spouse, lover, relative, friend, or acquaintance.
involves:
Verbal threats
Threatening behavior
Physical assaults by an assailant who, in the workplace, confronts an individual with whom he or she has or had a personal relationship outside of work.

25. The assailant’s actions are motivated by perceived difficulties in the relationship or by psycho-social factors that are specific to the assailant.

26. . . . Actions to take to inspect workplace security hazards involving violence by personal relations:
Assessing access to and freedom of movement within the workplace by non-employees, specifically personal relations with whom an employee is having a dispute.
Determining the frequency and severity of employee-reported threats of physical or verbal abuse which may lead to violent acts by a personal relation. Confidentiality is of utmost importance.

27. Identifying incidents of any prior violent acts, threats of physical violence, verbal abuse, property damage or other signs.
Training employees to seek police involvement to remove personal relations of employees from the work site as well as informing workers of the effectiveness of using restraining orders, as appropriate.

28. Workplace Risk Factors
The significance of these four types is that each one involves somewhat different risk factors and means to prevent or respond to the potential violent incident.
Risk Factor – a condition or circumstance that may increase the likelihood of violence occurring in a particular setting.

29. Crisis Management Program
If companies only view workplace violence as a security issue, they are unlikely to go beyond alarms, access control procedures, and emergency response.
Instead, when companies look at violence as a safety issue, it compels them to set up employee counseling programs, violence prevention work groups, and training and awareness education.

30. A crisis management program, therefore, includes these major components:
Hazard assessment
Hazard prevention and control
Training and instruction
Written reporting procedures

31. Hazard Assessment. The hazard assessment should examine vulnerability to the four categories of violence previously described—violence by strangers, violence by customers or clients, violence by coworkers, and violence by personal relations.
Involves
Step-by-step look at the workplace to find existing or potential hazards for workplace violence.
Includes
analyzing and tracking records of violence at work
Examining specific violence incidents carefully,
Surveying employees to gather their ideas and input, and
Conducting periodic inspections of the work site to identify risk factors

32. Hazard Prevention and Control
These measures may include
Using engineering controls
Establishing consistently applied sign-in procedures
Offer employee assistance program to workers
Provide adequate lighting to, from, and within worksite
Marking exits clearly and making them easily accessible
Distribute a grievance policy and procedures employees must follow
Post applicable laws
Conduct pre-employment background checks
Inform employees and enforce a policy of zero tolerance for violence
Limit access to the company’s property except for those with legitimate business interest
Provide initial counseling and support services to all employees

33. Training and Instruction
Ensures that all staff members are aware of potential hazards, warning signs of violence, and ways to protect themselves and their coworkers through established prevention and control measures.
Reporting Procedure
This procedure should be in writing and should be easily understood by all employees
It should take into account issues of confidentiality because employees may otherwise be reluctant to come forward to report incidents of workplace violence.

34. Safety Policies
A written policy provides the foundation for every successful safety program and can help avoid the expense, inconvenience, and other consequences of workplace accidents by making sure that employees know what is expected of them.

35. The safety policies should be flexible and revised if circumstances change.
The policies should include:
Objectives
Persons responsible for various safety practices
Consequences of not following established procedures
Process for report unsafe conditions or accidents
A listing of specific safety rules and guidelines
A listing of safety hazards to look for and how to report them

36. In addition to a basic safety policy, an explicit policy regarding domestic violence in the workplace can further help ensure workplace safety . . .
Domestic Violence is abusive behavior that is physical, sexual, and/or psychological, and intended to establish and maintain control over a partner.
It can adversely affect the well-being and productivity of employees who are victims, as well as their coworkers.
Other effects of domestic violence in the workplace include:
Increased absenteeism
Turnover
Health care costs
Reduced productivity

37. Pre-Employment Background Checks
As deceptively simple as it sounds, the best way to avoid workplace violence is not to hire violent workers.
An employer doesn’t have to perform the same type of background investigation on every applicant or employee, on one condition: that any differentiation the employer makes is based on legitimate business interests.

38. A background check takes two to four days in most cases.
Common background reports that provide negligent hiring lawsuits include:
Prior employment verification
Education verification
Licensing verification
Motor vehicle record
Credit history
Social security number
Reference checks
County criminal records

39. Negligent hiring is the failure on the part of the organization to use reasonable care in the selection process while hiring.
Reasonable care is the level of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise under the circumstances.
. . . negligent hiring occurs when a company knew or should have known that an applicant had a past record, and it did not check for it.

40. Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
Enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is designed to promote accuracy and ensure the privacy of the information used in consumer reports and background checks.
Under the FCRA, the employer must always obtain the applicant’s written authorization before the background check is conducted.
When adverse employment action is taken (i.e., not hiring an applicant) based on adverse credit rating contained in the credit report, the FCRA may require the employer to provide the applicant with a notice of the adverse action and the name and phone number of the agency that furnished the report containing the basis for this adverse action.

41. Preventing Workplace Violence
A hostile work environment is one that unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or contains intimidating or offensive behavior.
Preventing workplace violence requires that the following steps be taken:
Identify prevention strategies
Acknowledge the warning signs
Offer training

42. Prevention Strategies
If you find yourself in a potentially violent situation, follow these tips:
Be an empathetic listener
Observe personal space
Make eye contact (no starring or glaring)
Pay attention to your tone of voice
Let the person vent
Avoid overreacting

43. Find a backup person who is willing to help you in an emergency.
Sit down with your backup and devise an action plan.
Remember to write down any information that might lead to a dangerous situation.
For example,

44. Warning Signs
The nature and success of response will depend on how thorough the pre-incident planning and training have been.
5 Warnings Signs [table 16.1]
Confusion
Frustration
Blame
Anger
Hostility

45. Training
. . . is a valuable tool for protecting employees from workplace violence.
Workplace violence training helps managers learn how to prevent or limit violent situations, recognize how violence at work can occur, and actions to take (and not to take) when dealing with violence.
Legal protection begins with knowing what’s going on in the workplace, recognizing and responding to problem behavior, and making every effort to provide employees with a safe work environment.

46. Important topics of training may include:
Training employees in nonviolent response and conflict resolution can reduce the risk that volatile situations will escalate to physical violence.
Important topics of training may include:
How to look for signals
How to maintain behavior that helps defuse anger
How to reduce the risk of getting into a violent situation
How managers and employees are to protect themselves from uncontrollable situations

47. In the Aftermath of Workplace Violence
The crisis is not over when the police and TV crews leave.
Companies should proactively set up policies and procedures for responding to the aftermath of a workplace violence incident.
These policies and procedures should include:
Mobilization and mental health services
Media
Public relations

48. Law enforcement officers recommend that employees do the following from the time they become aware of an emergency until police arrive:
Observe what is occurring
Describe as many details as you can about what you are observing
Notify law enforcement as soon as you are able to do so safely.

49. Police experts recommend that all employees put distance and/or barriers between themselves and the threats.
Stay calm but alert during these situations.
NOTE: THESE ARE RECOMMENDATIONS LISTED IN YOUR TEXTBOOK; AND, JUDGMENT AND CAUTION SHOULD BE USED IN THE APPLICATION OF ANY PROCEDURE.