Workplace Violence

A recent Rasmussen Poll has indicated that over one in four (26%) employed adults say they have seriously thought that someone in their workplace was capable of mass violence.

Since you have to register to read the rest of the article, here are the rest of the specifics…

-One-in-three men (33%) say they have held that thought before, compared to only 17% of women.

-Forty-three percent (43%) of government workers say they have felt a fellow employee was capable of mass violence, more than double the number among those who work for private companies.

-Most working adults (64%), however, say they have not seriously thought a co-worker would be capable of such violence. Another 11% are undecided.

 

Some of the more high recent profile workplace violence incidents include…

Shooting at a liquor distributor in Conneticut

 

Faculty member shooting fellow professors at the University of Alabama

New Mexico man reacts violently regarding a custody dispute

 

It seems that workplace shootings have been getting more attention from the news recently. While they are not common, they do seem to be high profile when they do occur, and for good reason. For obvious reasons, a workplace should have an element of security. While conflicts do arise in the workplace, a quality employer should have a way to swiftly deal with the impending trouble. A company psychiatrist is one of those possible outlets.

At this time, a poll dealing with a psychiatrist’s performance in the workplace is not available. However, that can lead to a possible assumption that there are no problems. On the other side, are people aware that they can utilize a psychiatrist? Further, would employees really want to speak about their thoughts to someone who can turn around and convey those same thoughts to their boss? It is a mixed bag, and hopefully sooner than later some light can be shed on it. And while I’m going on and on about company psychiatrists, I do realize that they might not be the answer to every problem, I’m just trying to find a possible solution.

 

Another alarming statistic to come out of this poll is that almost half (43%) of government employees say they have felt a fellow employee was capable of mass violence. While no place is a good place for workplace violence, you certainly do not want it interfering with the government. This number may be high due to the fact that the current trend is to work for the government.

 

This may add additional workers to the government, and possibly skew the results. Either way, it is still alarming.

 

An additional statistic that I came across that was not included in this Rasmussen report was that between 1993 & 1999, the health care industry was involved in 45% of the two million reported incidents of workplace violence.

  

That percentage is alarmingly high, and could even lead someone to forget about that industry all together while choosing a career path. Also, it is not only the 90’s that are affected by this trend. A quick Google news search of “Workplace violence” has nurses, hospitals, or the health care industry pop up in a high number of articles. It is troubling, and hopefully people become more aware of this phenomenon.

 

While it may not seem like something you think about every day, workplace violence is out there. While it can be portrayed as humorous on television, the fact of the matter is that even the thought of it can be enough to make someone uncomfortable. Hopefully further studies are conducted on why these incidents occur in order to produce a safer workplace. 26% may not seem high, but if you really thought that out of four co-workers, one could be capable of a violent incident at any given time, calling in sick suddenly seems like a good choice.