There was a very disturbing example of workplace violence caught on a Greek television show this week that had one politician lose his temper and attack two rival politicians – both women.   There is now a warrant for the attackers arrest.  He used a glass of water to throw at the politician that was out of reach, and then began slapping the politician sat closest to him.

During terminations, it is suggested that objects that can be picked up and thrown or used as weapons should be removed from the area, but I don’t think anyone would have guessed politicians in a TV debate would become violent.

Greek politician throws glass of water, slaps opponent on talk show

By CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) — The Greek prosecutor’s office issued a warrant Thursday for the arrest of a well-known politician videotaped throwing a glass of water at a colleague and slapping another.

Ilias Kasidiaris of Greece’s far-right party Golden Dawn caused a national uproar with his actions during a popular morning television talk show. Police are looking for Kasidiaris, also the party’s spokesman, but no arrest has been reported.

Kasidiaris and other candidates appeared on ANT1 TV to discuss the June 17 elections.

See video and read more…

An excellent article on workplace violence.  While the article references three of the top industries, the excerpt I’ve inserted below clearly shows that no one industry is immune to workplace violence if there are one of the four components involved – criminal, customer of client, co-worker, domestic violence

Workplace Violence: A Scourge Across Diverse Industries

By Laura Scott, Esq.

Security Magazine

Read full article here…

Although certain industries attract more than their share of workplace violence, its characteristics affect every sector of business. The hazard has been defined by the Department of Labor as “violent acts directed towards a person at work or on duty.” There need not be actual physical contact: it can include threats of assault, harassment, intimidation or bullying.  So the Department’s classifications of workplace violence situations apply pretty well universally:

•  Criminal: The perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the workplace or its employee and essentially is committing a crime in conjunction with the violence (i.e. robbery).

•  Customer or Client: The perpetrator has a legitimate relationship with the business and becomes violent while being served (ie. customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, etc).

•  Co-Worker: The perpetrator is an employee or past employee of the business and attacks or threatens another employee.

•  Domestic Violence: The perpetrator, who has no legitimate relationship with the business but has a relationship with the intended victim, threatens or assaults the intended victim at the workplace.

Read full article here…

The IMAC conference from May 10-11^th in Arizona was a tremendous success.  The itinerary looked promising, and the expert speakers delivered on that expectation.

• Jack Toner had an extremely informative presentation on the NLRB
• Richard Levick was energizing speaking on public relations and crisis communications
• Joe Schollaert from IMAC uncovered some excellent points of consideration discussing how to prepare for a strike
• Dr. Michael Corcoran delivered a wealth of information on workplace violence considerations
• Steve Cabot relayed some great real examples to illustrate his topic of employers rights
• Michael Sherrard pulled some references from each of the other topics to wrap the conference up nicely with his topic of the globalization of unions

It was an excellent learning experience and the participation of all is greatly appreciated.

I’m already looking forward to next year.

The State of Florida recently signed a bill to allow drug testing in the workplace – The Drug Free Workplace Act.  The test can be done randomly every three months and include up to 10% of a company’s workforce.  Positive tests can result in immediate termination.

While this may assist companies with on the job usage that could cause potential safety risks (e.g. forklift drivers or other machine operators), it doesn’t address other drug related issues that may be going on in a workplace.  There are cases where drug dealers have applied for employment with companies to open themselves to a new clientele in a relatively ‘safe’ zone free of police patrols like they would encounter on the streets.

To investigate possible drug activity like dealing, which can lead to workplace violence if deals go bad, an undercover investigator would be suggested.  Undercover investigators will document who is involved and where the violations are taking place.  This can also include video and the company can take appropriate action with the evidence collected.

Drug Free Workplace enacted in Florida

By: By Maggie Rooks | Special to the Floridan
Published: April 19, 2012

Gov. Rick Scott recently signed a bill into law that allows Florida state agencies to randomly test workers for drugs.

The Drug Free Workplace Act will let state employers test up to 10 percent of their workforce once every three months. The first time an employee tests positive, he or she will be fired.

The testing was first proposed in the 2011 Florida Legislature session but was passed in the state House of Representatives and Senate during the last week of the 2012 session, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

Previous Florida drug testing laws only allowed for the random testing of state workers in “safety sensitive” situations and treatment options instead of automatic termination on the first positive test, according to the statute.

Victoria Mock, 20, has never been drug tested for her job as a student worker for the Leon County School Board. However, she isn’t worried about the new statute.

“I wouldn’t find being tested inconvenient because I have nothing to be worried about,” Mock said.

For the purposes of the Florida Drug Free Workplace Act, the term “drug” can refer to alcohol, prescription medicines, narcotics, hallucinogens, amphetamines, opiates and any other addicting substances.

Read more…

Absolutely the NFL is susceptible to workplace violence.  Keep in mind everyone from the players to the doctor to the water boy are employees of a team and staff of the stadium teams play in are also open to violence.

There have been player fights during games and practices:

The San Francisco 49ers can’t seem to get along during practice. In the middle of a ball security drill, cornerback Shantae Spencer nailed linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Everyone seemed to laugh about it, but Brooks didn’t think it was funny. The linebacker got up, hit Spencer in the head and the two started to fight.

Fans have pelted players and staff with objects:

During a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Denver Broncos at Cleveland Stadium, officials had the teams switch end zones in the fourth quarter to protect Denver players from batteries and other objects being thrown from the Dawg Pound.

Fans have had fights in the seats that inevitably involve security staff:

Fans of football Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders, got into a brawl at a recent preseason game between the two teams.

With the NFL releasing the 2012-2013 schedule, I am looking forward to seeing what Peyton Manning will do for the Broncos with the exit of Tim Tebow, but I also couldn’t help think of the recent Bountygate issue that has been a hot topic in the NFL lately.  How is that for a case of workplace violence?  Imagine it in an office setting.  A manager requests that an employee targets a competitors employee to inflict pain or fear so they cannot perform their job duties.  Workplace bullying most definitely.

As an investigative tool we can enhance our surveillance efforts by getting to know a subject through a social media investigation.  But during an interview, and it real time?  Are they looking to avoid hiring a party person, someone with imagery conducive to workplace violence or that their ‘hobbies’ as noted on their resume match the photos on their Facebook page?  That’s what some recruiters are now doing as part of an interview for employment – asking for login credentials of the interviewee on the spot.  An interesting from of employment screening definitely.

I’m not sure this kind of tactic will be permitted legally going forward, but I definitely know that there’ll be lots of people out there with two personal profiles once the word gets out that they may encounter this in an interview.  One ‘real’ profile with all of their crazy party photos with friends, and one ‘dummy’ profile with photos of family, volunteering at soup kitchens and helping seniors across the road.

Job seekers get asked to provide Facebook logins

SEATTLE — When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.

Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn’t see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.

Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn’t want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person’s social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

“It’s akin to requiring someone’s house keys,” said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it “an egregious privacy violation.”

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.

Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publicly available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.

Read More…

After an outstanding and informative session with Dr. Dennis Davis, IMAC training is pleased to announce that Workplace Bullying: Identification and Response is now live.  This workplace violence themed course has also been approved for 1 HRCI credit.

Another unfortunate reminder of this came last week when Dale Regan, head of school in Jacksonville was gunned down by a fired teacher.  Homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace.  The U.S. Department of Labor identifies factors that can increase the risk of workplace violence as:

• Exchanging money with the public.
• Working with volatile, unstable people.
• Working alone or in isolated areas.
• Working where alcohol is served.
• Working late at night or in areas with high crime rates.

None of these are relevant to a school setting, but violence still found its way there.  Behavioral warning signs are sometimes present, but in a termination, follow up safeguards may be necessary for high risk employees.

Workplace violence: ‘Anywhere, anytime’

by Karen Brune Mathis

Dale Regan’s death Tuesday, which police said was at the hands of a fired teacher, bears out the national statistic that homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace.

According to police, the 63-year-old head of school at the private Episcopal School of Jacksonville was shot and killed Tuesday by 28-year-old Shane Schumerth, a Spanish teacher who was fired earlier in the day. He then killed himself.

As the school, police and the community grapple with the deaths, area organizations likely are reviewing their security and employment policies to determine how to prevent such a tragedy.

It’s not a simple exercise.

“The sad but true fact is all such incidents cannot realistically be prevented. If someone is sick or intent enough to commit such an act there is often nothing that can be done to ensure total prevention short of turning our society into a police state,” said Michael Freed, managing partner of the Brennan, Manna & Diamond firm in Jacksonville. His practice includes business and corporate law.

Read more…

Based on a study of 1,381 EMS workers across Ontario and Nova Scotia, 2 of 3 have experienced some type of abuse on the job.  Based on the types of abuse, personal protection training would be a handy asset, but nonviolent confrontation management would definitely benefit the early stages of abuse and prevent it from becoming a workplace violence incident.  Check out the story below…

By Linda Nguyen

Postmedia News  Dec 29, 2011 – 2:30 PM ET

TORONTO — More than two-thirds of paramedics have encountered some type of abuse, sexual or otherwise, while on the job, according to a Canadian study released Thursday.

A survey of 1,381 emergency medical service workers in Ontario and Nova Scotia reported they have been subjected to verbal, physical or sexual abuse while working.

“EMS providers can experience violence in the workplace as they perform their jobs in unpredictable environments and near people in crisis,” said Blair Bigham, an associate scientist with Rescu, a group based at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Read more…

An excellent article and stats on Canadian HR Reporter regarding corporate theft and fraud.  From our experience, we can confirm that companies often believe their exposure to fraud is low, but often times we are able to not only present evidence contrary to that, but uncover other issues that would require undercover investigations like drug abuse or potential workplace violence issues.  Here is the article…

Workplace fraud costs employers billions annually

Most SMEs ill-equipped to respond to problem: CGA-Canada

Workplace fraud in Canada costs small and medium enterprises (SMEs) billions of dollars each year, according to a research report from the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada). Collective losses are estimated at $3.2 billion for 2010. Yet many firms are overlooking the problem or underestimating their vulnerability.

“The risk of workplace fraud is almost certain to rise as economic growth slows and more employees experience financial difficulties,” said Rock Lefebvre, CGA-Canada’s vice-president of research and standards and co-author of the report. “It’s a genuine threat and companies need to be vigilant. It may be a case of pay now, for prevention, detection and response measures, or quite possibly pay later.”

Read more…