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Nebraska Workplace Violence

April 16th, 2008 Posted by Amelia

Since the beginning of 2008, several violent incidents have occurred in the workplace, emphasizing the need for all companies to put safety protocols into place to guard against violence on the job. These protocols should include emergency steps on how to react to violent acts, and what steps to take to help prevent these acts. All employees, managers and workers alike, should be trained in these steps.

OSHA reports that between 1992 and 2006, homicide in the workplace decreased almost 50%. However, recent tragic events suggest a reversal in that trend.

Every Nebraska employer should have a plan in place to prevent workplace violence.

Possibly the most alarming of these incidents occurred at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, Illinois. On February 14, former graduate student Steven Kazmierczak, armed with two guns burst into a NIU lecture hall and started shooting. Twenty-two people were hit, six of them fatally. Kazmierczak had recently transferred to the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign to do graduate study in social work.

Kazmierczak was described by professors as an award-winning student, calm and committed to his studies. Criminal Justice was a particular focus. Police, however, reported that Kazmierczak had been behaving erratically for three weeks, because he stopped taking his medications. These reported were disclaimed by the gunman’s girlfriend, Jessica Baty. She stated that Kazmierczak bought the guns for security, and had been stressed by school, but his behavior had not been out of the ordinary.

City council members of Kirkwood, Missouri were shot by a gunman on February 7. A political activist who had been thrown out of two previous council meetings, burst in and began shooting. Two police officers and three city officials were killed. The mayor was shot, too, but survived his wounds.

Another tragedy occurred at a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on February 2. A man posed as a delivery man and attempted to rob the store. Six women were in the store at the time. The gunman took them to the back room and bound them with duct tape. The store manager, however, had managed to put in a call to 911. When the gunman learned of the call, he “went crazy” and shot all 6 women. Only one woman survived.

Recent incidents of workplace violence in Illinois and Missouri are the two most recent episodes. Several attacks took place in 2007 as well.

From the tragic massacre at Virginia Tech to a stabbing at an Orlando Denny’s and an attempted “suicide by cop” at the University of Wisconsin Madison 2007 saw its share of workplace violence.

At the Denny’s restaurant on International Drive over Labor Day weekend of 2007, a 40-year-old waitress died of stab wounds inflicted by her estranged husband. Several families were leaving Walt Disney World at the time and witnessed the incident. Both coworkers and customers chased the man, who escaped over a fence, leaving a shoe behind.

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the shooter had shown several warning signs of workplace violence. He had exhibited fits of rage and was not seeking treatment for his history of mental illness. He developed obsessive crushes on women he barely knew, then engaged in stalker-like behavior and jealousy toward them that was completely out of proportion to events. Cho also had an unhealthy interest in weapons.

Two 17-year-old students were shot to death during a tragic event in September at Delaware State University. Following the shooting the campus was put on lockdown and the 1,700 students on campus were confined to their dormitories. Many of the students were contacted by cell phone about the incident and the lockdown.