The document discusses workplace safety, highlighting the historical improvements made since OSHA's inception, with workplace deaths and injuries significantly decreasing over decades. However, it emphasizes the rising issue of workplace violence, particularly from co-workers, and stresses the need for comprehensive prevention plans and employee training to identify risks and respond effectively to violent situations. It calls for organizational accountability and a commitment to continuous evaluation of safety practices to mitigate potential threats in the workplace.

1. Danger at Work:
How to Spot a Potentially
Violent Co-Worker
E B O O K

2. 2
Workplace safety has been a significant
priority in the United States for decades
and, from some perspectives, an area
in which we have made a great deal of
progress. OSHA, or the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration,
regularly employs more than 2,100
inspectors at more than eight million
work sites from coast to coast who are
tasked with overseeing the health and
safety of more than 130 million workers.
In the more than four decades since
OSHA was established, to say it has
dramatically impacted workplace safety
is something of an understatement.
In 1970, for example, there was an average of 38
worker deaths per day in the United States due to
unsafe conditions and hazards like falls, being struck
by an object, electrocutions and more. Flash forward
to 2015 and that number was reduced to 13 per day.
Worker injuries and illnesses are also on a significant
decline, down from an average of 10.9 incidents per 100
workers in 1972 to just three per 100 workers in 2015.
But unfortunately, as times continue to change, the
types of threats that people face on the job do as
well. What do you do if the environment that you’re
working in and around is not the most pressing danger
that you face daily? What happens if the true threat
to workplace safety has nothing to do with electricity
or a giant piece of construction equipment, but rather
the people that you work alongside every day?
Sadly, this is precisely the situation that millions of
workers around the country now face. It is also a
problem that does not discriminate—it can happen
anywhere, at any time and be sparked by someone
who seems normal but inside is hiding a deep, dark
secret or urge.
Workplace Violence: The Statistics
According to the 2017 NCVRW Resource Guide,
homicides in the workplace have been dramatically
reduced since 1994. In 2014, for example, they
accounted for just 10% of all fatal workplace injuries
—a reduction of 62% from just two decades earlier.
However, these numbers can be deceiving, and most
would agree that even 10% is far too many. When you
also consider the fact that firearm-related workplace
homicides accounted for an astounding 75% of all
workplace homicides in 2014, it’s easy to see that we
still have a long way to go.
Again, this issue affects all of us and does not
discriminate based on any location or profession.
While those who work in law enforcement are
obviously at a greater risk than those in other fields,
things don’t end there. The other industries that are
affected the most by workplace violence include
mental health, transportation, retail sales, medical
and even teaching. While many people are victimized
Make no mistake: Potentially
violent co-workers are the
new “danger at work” in the
modern era. Management
and employees must work
together to develop strategies
and plans to prevent and
respond to incidents.

3. 3
by a stranger (to the tune of 60% of all recorded
incidents), some are also victims of co-workers with
whom they have a casual or even close relationship.
It should come as no surprise that these numbers are
directly proportional to another unfortunate trend
in the United States: mass shootings. Consider the
following statistics:
• More than 1.3 million people per year, worldwide,
die a violent death due to some type of incident like
a mass shooting.
• Since as recently as 2000, about six million people
across the world have been killed in some type of
act of interpersonal violence.
• As far as mass shootings are concerned specifically,
there were 1,516 mass shootings in 1,735 days in
the United States of America.
The conclusion is clear: while
it’s true that the frequency
of workplace violence acts
themselves may be going
down, the severity of each
incident is skyrocketing.
No, the modern age is not the most violent in United
States history. Even if you take the colonization of the
Americas out of the conversation, there are still two
world wars in the last century that claimed more lives.
Unfortunately, interpersonal violence is an increasingly
severe problem if current trends continue.
All of this is a long way of saying that yes, workplace
violence is still a very serious problem that must
be addressed. But a large part of solving a problem
is understanding it thoroughly. When it comes
to mitigating the risk from workplace violence,
employees at all levels should know how to spot a
potentially violent co-worker.
What Is OSHA’S Role in Workplace Violence?
To help curb the issue, organizational leaders must
understand that they have an ally in OSHA. Because the
OSHA General Duty Clause requires all employers to
provide a safe and healthful workplace for all workers,
OSHA representatives will investigate any act of
workplace violence that occurs.
Indeed, OSHA’s research has been essential in
understanding this issue from as many different
angles as possible. We now know more about the
types of violence that occur, including:
• Self-directed violence, meaning acts that are
committed on oneself (example: suicide).
• Interpersonal violence, meaning acts that are
committed between coworkers, acquaintances,
and even strangers.
• Collective violence, meaning issues stemming from a
nationstate,militiasoreventerroristgroups.Obviously
in the workplace, this type of incredibly rare.
But OSHA’s reach only goes so far; ultimately business
owners and leaders are responsible for providing the
safest possible working environment. OSHA can only
provide guidelines, rules, and recommendations—a
“light to shine the way,” so to speak. The burden of
addressing danger at work, both for now and in the
future, must begin with a full commitment from the
organization itself.

4. 4
Curbing Dangers at Work: Prevention Plans
Curbing the risk associated with workplace violence
will always begin and end with a solid prevention plan.
This requires complete buy-in from management and
must be communicated in a way that makes every
employee aware of the essential role that they play
in identifying and communicating possible risks.
A comprehensive risk assessment and worksite analysis
will be required, for example, to include factors such as:
• Known vocations of high risk.
• Known triggers.
• Known signs.
Such a plan should also include hazard and threat
prevention and controls, safety training and exercises,
and especially recordkeeping and program evaluation.
The plan shouldn’t be completed and forgotten. Instead,
it should be evaluated and updated on a regular basis,
using information to strengthen the prevention plan
and allow it to evolve as conditions change.
As stated, part of the success of the plan will involve
knowing not only which vocations are known to carry
with them a high level of risk, but also coming up with
unique plans to address specific risks. Healthcare
professionals, those who operate in social service
settings, taxi drivers, and late-night retail businesses
are all at higher-than-average levels of risk.
As a result, there is no “one size fits all” approach to
mitigating workplace violence. The best defense is
creating a plan customized to the organization, getting
support from management, and educating employees.
Equally important is a deeper understanding of
the known triggers that are consistent among many
workplace violence events, regardless of vocation or
setting. These include business downturns, personal
struggle, and turmoil in world events. Any of these can
cause employees to “act outside the boundaries of their
character,”makingitmorelikelythattheybecomeviolent.
As previously mentioned, it is always important to
come up with unique prevention and response plans
in situations where these types of events can occur.
In addition to considering the unique characteristics
of the job and the employee, it is equally important to
consider factors like workplace design, work practices,
and administrative processes. These will be unique to
each environment and all play a role in how successful
hazard and threat prevention will ultimately be.
Safety Training and Exercises
Diving deeper, it is of paramount importance for
company leadership to mandate and monitor safety
training and other exercises on a regular basis to help
address potential dangers at work. If a violent situation
does occur, calling 911 as quickly as possible will always
be a priority—but the defensive actions do not end there.
Employees should be trained on how to recognize
gunfire, for example—particularly in environments
that are already loud. They should know how to respond
quickly and how to maintain a survival mindset in
situations where stress is incredibly high.
The burden of addressing
danger at work, both for
now and in the future, must
begin with a full commitment
from the organization itself.

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Evacuation plans should be a top priority. Where are
your escape routes? How do those routes change
depending on the location in the building? These are
all essential questions that employees must know how
to answer. Do employees know their environment
well enough to know exactly where they would hide?
These are the types of topics that safety training
programs and exercises should address.
Incidents of workplace violence are an unfortunate
fact of life. But that doesn’t mean organizations have
no power to change their outcomes. By understanding
the threats, and how to respond quickly, there’s a much
better chance of preventing the type of disaster that
seems all-too-common in the modern era.
Employees are, and will always be, the best
defense against threats. Their involvement in
identifying potentially violent co-workers, as
well as their ability to respond to a crisis, can
dramatically minimize negative outcomes.
Business owners and leaders should make
employee awareness and education a top
priority to prevent loss.
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