Commercial Insurance
On the Job, But Out of Control
Can employers predict workplace violence?

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• Life or Death  • 1998 Safety Snapshot  • 1998 Fatal Accidents

By Marjolijn Bijlefeld

On the day before Halloween in 1998, David Stover Jr. took a pistol to his job at a distribution center for Richfood Inc. in Hanover. Stover, 41, wanted to use the weapon to frighten co-worker Anthony Lee Jackson, 34, whom he claimed had been taunting him by littering his work area with pallets. Stover confronted Jackson and, after an angry exchange, Stover fired three times. Hit in the back, Jackson died. Last June, Stover was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Stover is another statistic in what has been a disturbing recurrence in newspaper headlines: violence in the workplace. In 1997, the latest figures available, Virginia saw 354 violent incidents, according to the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry. While that’s actually a drop from the previous year’s 636, every tale of workplace violence takes an emotional toll on workers.

Nationally, some 1,000 people are victims of workplace homicides. Many involve the armed robberies of restaurants and gas stations, but increasingly, they are crimes of rage. A much larger number, more than 2 million, are victims of assault, rape and robbery. Workplace violence nationally costs businesses more than $35 billion a year, which includes such things as lost productivity, lost business, programs to help employees and legal costs.

Conflict between employees is responsible for more than half of the acts of workplace violence, according to a study by the Alexandria-based Society for Human Resource Management. Violence also erupts after disputes with clients or between supervisors and employees. Nearly one in 10 of the incidents involved domestic conflicts that found their way from home to the workplace.

Worker rage may seem unforeseeable, but experts say employers can detect warning signs. “There’s the image that you can’t predict violent behavior, but people give indicators for years before it happens,” says Lynne McClure of Mesa, Ariz., who specializes in managing high-risk behavior. She has developed categories marking stages of behavior that are precursors to violence. “Most companies don’t do something until stage 10, which is the most violent,” she says. Early warning signs can involve an employee refusing to take responsibility for an act. More serious behavior could include the worker’s avoiding reality or acting extremely out of character.

By treating risky behavior as a performance issue, employers can identify problems and offer counseling and behavior modification. And by documenting that they tried to help, the employer can also protect the company against lawsuits. That may not prevent parking lot murders as in the Stover case, but it can help.

For more information, contact McClure Associates, www.mcclureassociates.com.