Survey Reveals Indifference To Potential Workplace Violence

NORTH HAVEN (AP) — Despite several well-publicized incidents of workplace violence, a survey by a Connecticut company has found that most companies are ignoring the issue.

Three of every four workers say they’re getting no guidance on how to prevent workplace violence, according to the survey by North Haven-based The Marlin Co., a management consulting firm.

“The warning signs are well known, but too many companies are burying their heads in the sand,” said company president Frank Kenna, III.

Nine percent of workers say they know of violent incidents occurring at their own workplaces in the last year and another 18 percent reported witnessing threats or verbal intimidation, the survey found.

The study of workplace attitudes, released each Labor Day, is based on a nationwide polling of 754 workers by the Gallup Organization, a national polling group hired by Marlin.

Workplace violence is a real danger that can occur with little or no warning, according to Mr Kenna.

“It doesn’t happen often. But when it does happen, it’s a big event,” Mr Kenna said.

Employers should learn the warning signs and risk factors that can lead to workplace violence, and have a plan in place for how to react if an incident does occur, Mr Kenna said.

Mr Kenna cited as an example the 1998 killings at the Connecticut State Lottery headquarters.

“At the Connecticut Lottery office, probably the last thing they were thinking about was violence. But when it happens, it’s a cataclysmic event. So the thing to do is get right out in front of it,” Mr Kenna said.

On March 6, 1998, a disgruntled worker named Matthew Beck went on a shooting rampage at Connecticut Lottery headquarters in Newington, killing four executives before killing himself.

Violence tied with transportation-related incidents was the top cause of workplace deaths in Connecticut last year, the state Department of Labor reported last week.

The state blamed violence for 13 workplace fatalities in 1999. The Labor Department recorded nine homicides and four suicides.