Workplace and Violence are two words that until recently were never associated with one another, however, when these words come together they strike terror in the lives of the people that are affected by them. When we think of the workplace, we think of a safe environment where we go to make careers for ourselves, and to improve our life styles for our families and ourselves. When we hear the word violence, images pop up in our head like the Jerry Springer Show, the Oklahoma City Bombing, or post office shootings. These images are stuck in our minds forever; the shear horror of these acts brings our perspective of the workplace, to a new reality. Violence is a very real almost unpredictable event that can strike anywhere at anytime. Workplace violence is turning into a number one priority for today's businesses. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "about 2 million people a year were victims of violent crime or threatened violent crime in the workplace from 1992 through 1996, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)...
English: Timothy McVeigh about to be led out of a ...
English: John Howard, director of the National Ins...
Henderson (first man on left) as part of the CDC's...Among all workplace victims of violent crimes or threats of violence, 67 percent were male and 33 percent were female. About 12 percent of the victimizations resulted in injuries, about half of which received medical attention" ( 1996).
The statistics are shocking, the amount of workplace violence that is out there everyday in our workforce; however, even more shocking than these statistics, is the fact that more than half of these cases go unreported. The people that commit these acts are more common then some people think, most perpetrators of work-place violence do not fit a standard profile, always focus on behavior, not characteristics. Based on previous acts of violence, some experts have identified 'warning symptoms'. "These include: middle-aged...