An interesting part of working at AFIMAC is the variety of work. This was certainly true on November 18, 2012 when I was asked to attend in Kitchener to hand over ownership of a coach bus that had been retired from our fleet.

I was met by Deputy Fire Chief Phil Dawson and Training Officer Terry Foster of the Town of East Gwillimbury Emergency Services and Sergeant Terry Foster of York Regional Police.

York Region Police will train on various scenarios for tactical response and hostage releases while the Town of East Gwillimbury Emergency Services will sharpen their fire fighting and extrication skills involving a coach bus. With a number of serious coach bus accidents recently, the timing could not be better to prepare for a similar emergency.

“We really appreciate this opportunity as it will support our firefighter training efforts, as well as the added benefit of partnering and sharing training resources with York Region Police” said Phil Dawson, Deputy Fire Chief.

Stephen Anderson, AFIMAC’s Vice President said “We are proud to be able to honour those who are dedicated to making our communities safer. AFIMAC appreciates the work done by police and fire services everywhere and are pleased to be able to give something back that we hope, in some small measure, will help others.”

We would also like to extend our thanks to Chiefs Heavy Truck Collision and Elliott’s Towing for their assistance in providing support services to make this happen.

Pictured from left to right in the photo are Sergeant James Graham (York Region Police), Deputy Phil Dawson (Town of East Gwillimbury Emergency Services), AFIMAC’s Brad Trew, and Training Officer Terry Foster (Town of East Gwillimbury Emergency Services)

What does your security audit say about you? Corporations are best served through a comprehensive, rigorous, frequent audit process.  This serves several purposes as it can identify weaknesses in your infrastructure, policies and procedures, information security. It provides a due diligence to demonstrate that any potential liabilities are being monitored and addressed. It also can justify expenditures to correct any security shortcomings and finally it presents an image to employees that the company takes both security and safety seriously.

Consider this – the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. fire in Bangladesh, India on November 24, killed over 100 garment workers.  It was learned afterwards that the owner was unaware of the need for emergency exits.  The factory owner later stated “Nobody told me that there was no emergency exit, which could be made accessible from outside. Nobody even advised me to install one like that, apart from the existing ones. I could have done it. But nobody ever suggested that I do it.”  An audit could have identified weaknesses which could have saved lives.

A well-rounded audit program looks at all aspects of a corporation from training, document flow, retention and destruction, computer passwords, the physical structure and its geographic location, security equipment, and access control are just to name a few.  Here are a few factors to consider:

Lighting

There are two schools of thought when it comes to lighting and security. One is to leave lights blazing to reveal any intruders. The opposing view is that it also allows intruders to inspect your security systems (alarms, motion sensors, locks, CTV cameras and their positions) as well as any valuables that may be in view. An intruder can plan his attack before ever setting foot in your facility.

The other school of thought is to leave lights off to make any preparatory surveillance difficult. Also anyone using flashlights to snoop around would be easily detectable.  There is no right or wrong answer but, by considering your risks as it relates to your facility and business, that knowledge will lead to developing the right solution.

In trucking facilities, the same holds true. I always recommend that trailer doors remain closed whether they are loaded or not. This disguises where your valuables lay. Also, it protects the interior of the trailer and prevents the floor from getting wet which in turn can damage your packaging and product.

Locks

Door locks and access control readers are only one line of defense towards protecting your assets and employees.  Any physical security system should have multiple layers of defense, from clearly marked “No Trespassing” signs, CCTV cameras, designated parking areas, dedicated employee entrance and egress points, sufficient locks with an up-to-date key control system, an access control system that tracks activity and limits access points, etc. Sometimes the best doors and locks can be defeated simply by someone holding a door open to an unwanted visitor.

Staff, Procedures and Information Security

Security is a process, not a product and is only as effective as the people that maintain, interact and influence its effectiveness.

Social media has become a large component of our personal lives and can not only identify us to the internet community as being an employee of a particular company, it can also open the door to social engineers that can exploit someone’s naiveté. Social engineering is the counterpoint to social media and uses social interaction in order to defeat and infiltrate your workplace.  These exploits can be very effective as the use of a multi-pronged attack to gather menial information from a variety of sources in order to legitimize the main attack.

Training your staff how to maximize your security programs, identify risks and vulnerabilities and how their actions can impact the effectiveness of those programs is paramount.  A security program is only as effective as its weakest link; whether that be poorly maintained or outdated equipment, failure to follow proper guidelines, a lack of training, bending the rules, etc.  Something as simple as a password written on a Post-it note and stuck to a monitor to a door propped open, can fully compromise your business and the safety of your staff.

Conclusion

An audit must be specific to your industry with the understanding of the unique vulnerabilities and obstacles to operating your business.  The best audit programs are collaborative and have the buy-in of staff at all levels.

A well designed audit program, diligently prepared and applied, helps to identify areas of concern before they happen. It also ensures a minimum acceptable standard across multiple facilities.  Self-auditing is also recommended as it educates managers of the key security components and how compliant they are.  The bottom line is that the security audit protects your bottom line; through due diligence, reduced liability, employee buy-in and risk mitigation.

A man did not take his dismissal from his employer well. Fired for drinking heavily, he wandered his office in a drunken haze, carrying with him letters naming co-workers who he felt had wronged him and outlining his plans to either shoot them or chop them up violently. This was not an unplanned act as he carried a gun in his pocket.

A foreman found him and informed him that strangers were not allowed on the premises. He demanded to speak with the head of the company but the boss did not have the time or inclination to accommodate the man’s grievances. He did not know this man, nor of his record of drunkenness, neglect of duties, domestic violence, or that he was currently out on bail. He just knew that he was being bothered by a man he didn’t know and who had probably deserved to have been fired.

In the ensuing struggle, the gun was pulled and went off hitting his boss in the leg. The boss, as he had discounted the man who had eventually shot him, downplayed the incident and continued to work after several days of convalescence. What seemed to be a simple wound became infected and the boss died several weeks later.

This story has played out many times over the years, but what makes this one most interesting is that it happened 132 years ago…the year was 1880 and the boss was George Brown, one of Canada’s founding fathers and head of the Globe newspaper where both men had worked.

The shooter, George Bennett, was tried and found guilty. His defense was that he was under the influence of alcohol and had gone to see Brown for a simple matter and “could not control the event.”

“He has gone to his death through an oversight on my part. It was a foolish thing for me to have drawn the revolver, but I was in liquor or I would have never done it. I could not control the event. I went there purely on a matter of business and my business was very simple and very plain. The result was as it was. I am prepared to die.”

Bennett was hung just short of 3 months after the incident.

The assassination of George Brown has been called a case of the victim being in the wrong place at the wrong time and a lesson on how not to handle an agitated former employee.

(Attempted Assassination of George Brown, Illustration by Henri Julien, the Canadian Illustrated News, April 10, 1880)

While violence in the workplace has been around for thousands of years, the term “workplace violence” did not originate until the 1980’s following a number of post office shootings in the US, the first of which occurred in 1986 when a part-time letter carrier shot 14 people to death before killing himself. The term “going postal” has been colloquially related to workplace violence where the employee goes off the deep end through stress or other motivators. Statistically however; the USPS does not have higher occurrences of workplace violence than other industries. Even more surprisingly, Canada ranks fourth in the world, ahead of the United States, in the number of workplace violence incidents (albeit not homicides).

Giving workplace violence a label has no doubt escalated the problem with copy cats and providing a solution to some people who may feel they are otherwise powerless in the workplace. Also, mass media coverage of incidents from around the world shows us that this is not a unique phenomenon but a part of life.

So what does all this mean? It means that workplace violence is nothing new; it is something that has persisted for as long as recorded history. If nothing else, it has evolved to include new types of incidents such as road rage, air rage and cyber bullying. As society places more and more demand on workers and fragments the family unit, this will serve to create other previously undocumented types of violence.

Violence in the workplace – whether directed from one worker to another or from the public towards your workforce – is not going to go away.

All is not bleak however. Identifying the problem has started a trend of solutions. Recognizing the workplace violence phenomenon and its precursors is the first step in mitigating the risk of it happening to you. Learning the warning signs, preventive strategies, workplace counselling and clearly defined policies draws the line in the sand and defines what is and isn’t acceptable. Also, some workplaces rehearse or hold active shooter drills so that people know how to react when a situation reaches the melting point.

Most importantly, knowing that workplace violence is a part of our way of life and is omnipresent forewarns and forearms us to protect ourselves. Unlike George Brown, we now know the consequences and risks associated with terminations and with mistreatment of workers. With respect, tolerance, forethought, a clearly defined policy and outlets available to staff in stressful situations, the problem won’t go away but can only get better.

Amanda Todd has been the top story in the news these days; a teen that recently committed suicide after years of endless harassment. What makes this story different is that, prior to her suicide, she chronicled her struggle in a nine minute YouTube video clip where flashcards detail what led up to her final end. It is ironic that it was the internet that began her downward spiral after she was blackmailed by a man she met online and sent a topless photo to when she was 12 years old. When that photo was later distributed throughout the internet, she became a social outcast and the victim of schoolyard bullying that eventually culminated in a physical assault in front of her school.

The story is a sad one and illustrates not only the effects of harassment but also the dark side of social media, the internet in general and how it can influence our daily lives. In a recent Canadian study, 78% of teen suicides were bullied both at school and online.

More and more, this type of conflict is finding its way into the workplace. Children who have used bullying and intimidation as a coping mechanism, grow up as adults who cannot deal with situations appropriately and resort to their ingrained behaviours. This is the root of workplace violence.

Wikipedia describes workplace bullying as “the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behavior against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation. This type of aggression is particularly difficult because, unlike the typical forms of school bullying, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organization and their society.” A 2007 survey found that 13% of US employees report being currently bullied, 24% have been bullied in the past and an additional 12% say they have witnessed workplace bullying.

Workplace violence reduces productivity, worker morale, employee retention, can lead to lawsuits and needs to be routed out. As Amanda Todd was crying out for help, so do many workers and it’s important to look for the warning signs of not just the victim but also the abuser. Having a clear internet, email and online policy can help address some of the avenues that harassment now takes.

It is easy to hide behind your computer anonymously. Even after Amanda’s suicide, the bullying continued as people posted comments on her video that they are glad she is dead. Travis Price, an anti-bullying advocate has said that “when bullying goes online, it takes on a new dimension that is difficult for victims to escape. Even within the confines of their home, they can effectively come face-to-face with their tormenters whenever they log onto Facebook or check their email.”

Recently, the hacker group Anonymous has claimed to have located the man who first blackmailed Amanda. Now the tides have shifted and the man believed to have started it all has now become a target of harassment after his name and address were posted online.

Sadly, Amanda Todd’s case is not unique. Bullying at home, in schools and workplaces happens every day. YouTube is raft with clips from people just like Amanda that have told their story in flashcards. In one such video, a girl named Kaelynn holds up a flashcard that reads:

“Bullies Kill.
Words Scar.
Rumors Destroy.”

She’s right.

“When we are sure that we are on the right road there is no need to plan our journey too far ahead. No need to burden ourselves with doubts and fears as to the obstacles that may bar our progress.”

- Orison Swett Marden

A boy grows up on the wrong side of the tracks and falls in with a bad crowd.  A problem student in school, spotty work history, thefts, assaults, domestic conflict at home and now he is facing a workplace violence charge.  After a long criminal history he is incarcerated and is destined to spend a life in crime or in prison.  Where did he go wrong?

This may be a simplistic view of the course that many lives have taken but it drives home a point.  This was not a coincidence but the result of decisions that brought him to this point.

Life is a path with many crossroads that people can take.  At each fork of the road, there are both pros and cons to each decision and direction taken.  If you take the wrong path it leads to another fork in the road where the opportunities and decisions have ever increasingly diminishing returns.

An effective society follows the same direction like a stream. Whether that stream takes twists and turns, the water flows in the same direction, at the same speed, to the same destination.

History has shown great examples of how a single minded society can achieve great results. Great battles have been won because of leadership and clear understanding of the goal. The pyramids were built by people who devoted their entire lives towards a single purpose.

In contrast, prisons are full of people who followed the wrong path and did not conform to the societal stream. As corporations are just microcosms of society, the same holds true.  Employees who work against the common goal through self-serving behaviours such as thefts, harassment, sabotage, workplace violence; all defeat the good of the many.

Trend: The general direction in which something moves tends to continue moving in the same direction.

Corporations define their ‘streams’ through mission statements and visions, a road map whereby all employees should be similarly aligned towards a common goal.  They plot out ‘paths’ through policies and procedures to give employees clearly defined guidelines to follow that will result in ever increasing returns.  They then measure their successes through benchmarking and trending.

Benchmarking establishes the baseline of various indices from which to gauge the success or failure of various programs used to improve productivity, moral, loss reduction, etc.

Trends are the interpretation of available historical data that is used to predict future results.  Business owners and security professionals alike, use trends in order to predict the likely frequency, location and type of events.  They then use this information to prepare for this eventual result.

“A good system shortens the road to the goal.”  – Orison Swett Marden

By using all the tools available, through knowing your destination, planning your route, constantly re-evaluating your position, individuals and corporations can reach their goal quicker and easier without falling off the path.

Article by 20/20 Canadian Manufacturing & Exporters’ Magazine

A worker breaks his back roofing, gets hospitalized for three months, and is off work from his manufacturing job for a year. His neighbour, a long-time acquaintance, lets slip he is working under the table for cash, while at the same time receiving workplace injury benefits.

As his employer – who is obviously concerned about the overall productivity of your operations – what would you do?

Desmond Taljaard makes it his mission to provide companies with the answer. As vice president of corporate investigations and security services with AFI International, Taljaard oversees internal investigations into workers’ compensation issues. Much of his work involves investigating the validity of claims and working with employers to see if there is fraudulent activity or workplace injury fraud.

“I would define it as someone feigning an injury in order to gain benefit when they are not entitled to that benefit,” says Taljaard, who estimates there could be as much as $100 million spent each year investigating potentially fraudulent claims in Ontario.

And while many cases do turn out to be fabricated, Taljaard adds that a high percentage end up being legitimate claims. “Someone will be hit by a forklift. Someone will hurt their back.”

When an incident occurs, certain red flags start to jump out. For example, complaints of pain may not match the case, or colleagues may see a supposedly injured employee out and about. Investigations, however, have made even easier by a growing culture of connectedness and social media. Public profiles like Facebook are much less intrusive than surveillance.

“People freely post ‘broke 90 today on the links’ as their status update,” says Taljaard, a former policeman and detective. “Colleagues know each other better than human resources or employers in most cases, and they’re the ones who feel the pressure of a lost employee.”

And when these cases are caught, there are consequences.

Read more…

Workplace violence is not a problem unto itself.  It is, in reality, a series of smaller problems that were left unaddressed.  It is the culmination of many factors and influences, all of which may or may not have been early warning signs of a situation spiraling out of control.

It is no secret that life is becoming harder.  That work is becoming more demanding.  That the money we earn does not extend as far as we would like.  That families are becoming increasingly fragmented.  That time does not extend as long as we need to meet life’s expectations.

Like anything under pressure, there’s only so much that can be borne until it cracks.

Acts of teasing, harassment, intimidation, bullying, threats and violence are really just a ladder of severity with each step becoming more and more dangerous and damaging.  Each of these steps is also an opportunity for intervention to prevent a problem from growing to the next level.

These warning signs may not always be noticeable.  For instance, with the advent of the Internet many workplace violence incidents are actually cyber bullying.  Schoolyard bullies often become workplace bullies because they haven’t learned alternative coping measures for stress and feelings of inferiority.  With intimation comes humility and often, victims do not want to come forward as it demonstrates a weakness.  In many cases, workplace violence is in fact domestic violence that spills over into the workplace.

Workplace violence behaviours can fall into these categories:

• Non-physical violence (intimidation, abuse, threats, racial slurs, etc.)
• Physical violence (punching, kicking, pushing, etc.)
• Aggravated physical violence (use of weapons, e.g. guns, knives, syringes, pieces of furniture, bottles, glasses, etc.)

Companies must have a robust, well publicized Workplace Violence policy in place that defines what Workplace Violence is, how to identify it, how to report it and how to protect its staff.  An important component of this is to identify risks that are specific to your industry and have protective programs in place to mitigate that risk.  More importantly, a well documented, formalized program prevents a culture of tolerance that may enable harassment and violent behaviour.

When climbing the stress ladder, always keep in mind that you or your co-workers can stumble at any time.  Having a reporting and resolution program as well as an employee assistance program to be able to respond to risk factors as they develop will have a much better chance at mitigating the situation before it gets out of hand.

As a Gold Partner of the EAC and CME symposium on Workplace Safety, Health & Wellness – Claims Management, Fraud and Your Bottom Line: The Real Cost of Risk, AFI would like to invite and offer you a promo code to receive a discount.

Desmond Taljaard of AFI will also be in attendance and presenting Factors to Consider When Investigating Claims of Workplace Injuries

Please find further information here or contact aferguson@afi-international.com to have a brochure emailed to you.

To register simply click this link https://eac.cmemec.ca/mpower/event/loadevent.action?e=278 and enter promo code “afipromo” in small letters and you will receive the member price of $275 before June 1^st and $325 after June 1^st.

We look forward to seeing you there!

In the 19th century, Karl Benz, creator of Mercedes-Benz (and the first person to legally operate an automobile on public roads), predicted the global market for his invention would be limited by the lack of qualified drivers.

Fast-forward to 2001 and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.  Approximately 3,000 people lost their lives in that single, horrifying moment.  The world reacted.  The US reacted by creating Homeland Security and leveraging all their resources to prevent a future attack.

It is interesting to note however; that 3,000 people lose their lives due to traffic fatalities in the US every month!   Even more ironic is that, after 9/11, traffic fatalities increased 9% at a time when police officers were being pulled from traffic safety duties to work on Homeland Security.  In the 3 years after 9/11, there were over 100,000 traffic fatalities compared to only 60 terrorism related deaths, none of which were on American soil.  Were the right resources being allocated where they are most effective?

History has shown that Karl Benz’s prediction was right.  Statistically, nearly all traffic fatalities are the result of driver error, not mechanical failure or weather conditions.  While weather conditions may increase the risk of an accident, how the driver reacts and interacts with the weather plays an integral part of the outcome.  Society’s embrace of the automobile is a matter of economics over practicality, of convenience over skill.  The costs are obvious.

We understand the need to hire a plumber to fix a leak or a mechanic to fix your transmission.  The same applies when conducting a qualified, competent and airtight investigation. Investigations and subsequent employee, union, criminal or civil hearings have become exceedingly more complicated.  Combine this with a savvier workforce who have a wealth of information at their fingertips, and this results in employers needing to dot their i’s and cross their t’s now more than ever.  While the old adage, “anyone who has themselves as a lawyer has a fool for a client”, still rings true today.

Whether conducting surveillance, investigations or subject interviews, the unique challenges of operating under local and federal laws, employment and union guidelines, human rights expectations can be overwhelming if you are inexperienced in these areas.

• Liability by not following court accepted guidelines
• Legal requirements may be overlooked
• Skewed results
• Lack of impartiality
• Missed opportunities/overlooked queues

The desire to do the right thing is often overshadowed by the need to do things quickly and easily.  This may be driven by corporate pressure, significant losses through thefts, budget constraints and other mitigating factors.  Consider that the costs of doing it incorrectly will always overshadow the costs of doing it right.

We live in a voyeuristic society…an age where news has gone from being informative to entertainment, and where society needs to see it to believe it.  Gone are the days when criminal activity operates in a cloak of secrecy; where cases can hinge on eyewitness testimony and be tainted by memory, time or prejudices.  Now, the experience is as equally important as the facts.

We now live in a digital age where virtually everyone carries a phone everywhere to call for help, a video camera to retell the story and become a voice recorder narrative.

Much of the media content shown during news events is publicly provided.  The public can be places that news crews cannot; in the epicenter, at the eye of the storm and the heart of the matter.  Amateur video footage has surfaced showing passengers in life jackets on the Costa Concordia being told to return to their rooms although history has now shown that the ship was sinking.  Indeed, much of the video shown in news clips – from natural disasters to crimes in progress – are derived from amateur video.  Take for instance footage of the 9/11 disaster or the tsunami in Japan.

When violence occurs, thefts take place, unwanted harassment or threats are uttered, this silent sentinel can provide the proof needed to bring the investigation to a successful resolution.  Take for example the recent G20 and Vancouver riots.  Amateur video combined with an inherent desire to do the right thing provided enough evidence to document what took place, who the culprits were and the extent of their involvement.  The evidence incriminated both the public rioters but also the police who were there to uphold social order.

There is even a new term in our urban slang, ‘digi-necker’, which succeeds the term rubbernecker and refers to a driver who slows down when passing an accident to take a picture of the scene with a digital camera.

Video technology also has formalized benefits.  Preventative solutions such as DriveCam, which has cameras installed in over 150,000 vehicles to monitor driver behaviour by watching both the driver’s actions and the road environment can help to protect companies against liability in accidents and provide corrective measures when driver’s are found to be at fault.  Taking this a step further, there has also been the suggestion that the public police itself by being able to call into a national reporting centre to report poor driving behaviour.  Based on the number of calls received regarding a particular licence plate, fines are levied accordingly.

Police in England have installed dozens of cameras on city streets to curb crime.  It is reported that the average person there is videotaped publically 2550 times per year.  Casinos now also have cameras with face recognition software to identify criminals before they have an opportunity to commit their crimes.  Police dash cams capture evidence both through video and audio recordings.

These factors combined with social media such as Facebook has reached a new brand of social consciousness, helping to bring criminal enterprises to their knees.  Gang members displaying photos of themselves with guns and drugs in their Facebook accounts, or posting videos of their crimes to YouTube have been brought to justice through the very evidence they posted online.

The bottom line is, no matter where you turn, no matter what you do, chances are there is a camera watching you or available to document your actions.  What does this mean in the workplace?  In a word: accountability.  There are both positive and negative considerations.  Firstly, you must always operate with the belief that everything you say can and is being recorded.  Through one-party consent law, it is perfectly legal to surreptitiously record someone without their knowledge as long as you are present and part of the conversation.  Secondly, by encouraging an honest workforce you are also recruiting a security force equipped to bring closure to a myriad of negative factors such as theft, harassment, workplace violence, fraud and corporate espionage.  Many workplaces have a no-phone policy which restricts bringing their phones onto the work floor however, in doing so, they may be shuttering one of their most powerful allies.