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Violence in the Workplace: Is Your Agency Prepared?

Lazy Management

Engineer
DON
Wed May 30, 2007 9:18 AM

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There was a person I used to work with who threatened to kill, via poison or running us over with a car, myself and some co-workers. This was brought to managements attention. Management did absolutely nothing. Why? IMO because doing nothing was easier than actually getting the person help and/or fired.

Re: Lazy Management

Analyst
USDA
Wed May 30, 2007 2:19 PM
Not all management is lazy. We actually had a worker that stated that she was going home to get her gun (she had a part-time job as a security guard and was authorized to carry a gun on her part-time job). Management put everyone on alert, security would not let her enter the premises, the police came, and she was escorted away. As angry as she was, management really did believe that she intended to do harm.

work place violence

range technician
usda forest service
Wed May 30, 2007 12:20 PM

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I am a female that works alone in the woods/grasslands. I feel that the public is so angry with the Forest Service over travel planning, range issues and environmental issues in general that I do not wear my uniform. I avoid meeting any people. If I am horseback I stay out of site rather than meet anyone on a trail and I closely watch my horse for any sign that anyone, human or animal is nearby. When I arrive back at my truck or truck and horsetrailer I circle the vehicle and see that no one is in or under it. In the office we are also cautious of visitors from the public and will call 911 for each other if a situation seems to be getting out of hand. This is a different world from 10 years ago.

Not enough resources

HR Specialist
VA
Wed May 30, 2007 3:17 PM

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This is a problem which is growing more serious each year, yet I see few ADDITIONAL resources dedicated to preventing it. An Employee Assistance program should involve an entire TEAM of people at most VA facilities, where the employee base usually exceeds 1,000 and tensions are skyrocketing. But as the DON Engineer so aptly wrote, "Lazy Management" chooses to do nothing because it is HARD WORK to deal with these issues proactively. Much easier to send "counselors" to the site of disasters like Virginia Tech. Asthe Forest Service employee said, it is a different world today. We need to step up to the challenge and aggressively pursue funding to enhance EAP programs and so forth.

Re: Not enough resources

Analyst
USDA
Thu May 31, 2007 6:02 AM
People need to also believe that the person will do what he/she has said or implied. Very often a person will say that they are going to shoot up the place (or something similar) and no one believes that the person will actually do it. If you look at some of the incidents that have occurred, co-workers will often say that they didn't believe that the person was capable because the person was too nice. People are not paying attention to the signals.

Re: Not enough resources

HR Specialist
V.A.
Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:40 AM
You hit the nail on the head. I work at a VA located in a major city, with high crime rates. Our EAP is one person, and that person spends most of the work day on other duties. If it wasn't a disgrace, I'd say it's a joke - but there is nothing funny about failing to put proactive measures into place. Violent things happen all the time, but even then there is NO CHANGE. Maybe another committee is created to talk about the issues, but even if they make recommendations, nothing happens. I'm sure it's the same everywhere.

Thank you, FedSmith, for this forum. Maybe somebody will read these articles and actually do something helpful. Federal employees should feel safer than we do, especially in the wake of Oklahoma, 9-11, etc.

Violence in the Work Place

Human Resources Specialist (Military)
DoD
Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:33 PM

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I work on a military base. Military bases do not allow private handguns on the installation, either in your car or on your person. Those of us with a concealed carry permit should be authorized to carry at work. This law keeps those of us, who normally carry concealed when not at work, from being able to defend ourselves should a work place incident occur. Yes, we have security, guards at the building, but if you saw them you would have no confidence they could handle anything. Some of them had to shoot the qualification course 3 time before passing. I should be able to carry at work on the off chance I need to defend myself and those around me. If the balloon goes up, I want a fighting chance.

Re: Violence in the Work Place

SUPPLY SPECIALIST
DOD
Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:11 AM
Remarks from Human Rresources(Military)-
It's a "damn if you do, damn if you don't " issue. If everyone would be allowed to carry "concealed weapons"-what happens if an incident does occur-will you (or whomever) start to go "crazy" and start shooting and possibly striking an innocent employee -or if supposed the "attacker" grabs your gun?
That means you would have to carry it everyhwere you go-cuz people WILL be looking in desk etc for these items. Nothing is safe to keep hidden anywhere anymore.

Workplace Violence

Civil Engineer
US Forest Service
Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:07 PM

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Doers' never talk. Talkers never do. If a person is willing to die for what they want to do then the only way to stop them is to kill them.

Total Comments: 9
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