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Maryland Workplace Violence

April 17th, 2008 Posted by Amelia

U.S. Labor Department statistics indicate that violence in the workplace has become less common. But, that data is belied by recent news reports.

Maryland employers must establish emergency anti-violence programs to train managers and workers how to respond to workplace violence, and how to help prevent it. Incidents of violence on the job in 2007, plus a number of recent events highlight just how vital it is for companies to implement these plans.

On October 5, 2007, in Alexandria, Louisiana, John Ashley, a retired city maintenance worker shot 5 persons in a law office downtown. When police responded to the scene, Ashley fought off several attempts by police to rescue the workers. After a 10 hour standoff, the police used explosives and entered the building. Ashley and the police exchanged gunfire, resulting in Ashley’s death. Three of the workers were injured, but alive. The other two died.

A more recent incident alarmed the entire nation, particularly those with loved ones on college campuses. On February 14, Steven Kazmierczak burst into a lecture hall on the DeKalb, Illinois campus of Northern Illinois University (NIU) and opened fire. Six people were killed and 16 were injured. Kazmierczak ended the spree by shooting himself.

Described as a calm, committed student by professors, former NIU graduate student Kazmierczak was very interested in studies of Criminal Justice. A current graduate student in social work at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Kazmierczak was reported by police to have been off his medications for three weeks and acting strangely. Jessica Baty, Kazmierczak’s girlfriend, argued that Steven was stressed from school, but not overly so, and that he’d bought the two guns for “home security.”

Labor Day weekend 2007 saw a tragic shooting at an Orlando Denny’s. There, a waitress was stabbed by her husband inside the restaurant on International Drive. Paramedics did their best to save her, but the woman died of her wounds. The stabbing was witnessed by several families who had just left Walt Disney World. Coworkers and customers chased the husband, who escaped over a fence, leaving behind one of his shoes.

Two more incidents occurred in February, involving a robbery gone bad in Tinley Park, Illinois where 6 women were shot (5 died) in a Lane Bryant store. The other involved the city officials in Kirkwood, Missouri. An armed political activist, who had twice been ejected from meetings, burst in and shot 6 members of the city council. The mayor survived, but two police officers and three city officials were killed.

Workplace violence is a continuing tragedy. Two recent episodes, in Missouri and Illinois, were only the latest. Several incidents took place during 2007, including the shocking incident at Virginia Tech.

In that episode on April 16, without a doubt the worst of 2007, a young man killed 32 students and staff members, wounded 17 others, and then took his own life as police moved in on him.

The young man, Seung-Hui Cho, displayed a number of what the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, calls warning signs of violence in the workplace. He had a history of mental health problems but was not seeking treatment for them. He exhibited fits of rage and an unhealthy interest in weapons. The youth also had a history of obsession-like crushes on women he barely knew, and engaged in behavior bordering on stalking with these casual acquaintances.

During a tragic event in September, two students, both 17 years old, were shot to death outside a dining hall on the campus of Delaware State University. The school was put on lockdown after the shooting near the school sports arena, and later a student was interviewed regarding the episode. The roughly 1,700 students on campus were confined to their dormitories. Many were informed by cell phone of the incident and the lockdown.