Editor’s Message


The National Day of Mourning, held annually on April 28th, in Canada, is a time to remember and reflect on lives lost in the workplace. It is


also a time to resolve to prevent future tragedies. Today is a great day to start putting in place plans to eliminate violence in your workplace. Don’t wait until something happens, do it now.


It is well accepted wisdom that the best way to avoid employees behaving badly is to not hire problem employees in the first place. This requires a special effort during the hiring process. To support your efforts to screen out the ‘bad apples’ we are launch- ing an Accreditation Profile which will feature a firm that has successfully passed the rigorous accredita- tion program implemented by The National Associa- tion of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®). Screening firms undergo an on-site audit by an independent auditor and must demonstrate adherence to prescribed industry best practices. Read the Accreditation Profile.


As you know, I am on a mission to focus workplace violence prevention to encompass safety. Actually it always has had this focus, but somewhere along the way we started focusing more on security and kind of forgot about the safety element. It is noteworthy that one of the questions on the application for EHS Today’s America’s Safest Companies asks about management engagement in safety. Companies with extraordinary safety programs have leaders that are engaged in safety, who recognize the importance of Employee Health and Safety (EHS) performance to the bottom line and support EHS efforts as part of their goal to be a world-class operation.


A recent research initiative reported that “Supervisors whom workers admired for their character, intelli- gence and skills had powerful influence on their employees. When trades employees saw a foreman they admired making safety a top priority, the workers began to make safety a higher priority as well.” It is refreshing to see the research affirming that ‘modeling the desired behaviors’ and ‘walking the talk’ are truly beneficial ways of improving employee performance.


For a glimpse into the future of violence prevention read ‘Identifying, Thwarting Insider Threats Before They Do Damage .’


Thanks for joining us this month. Stay safe and see you next month.


Barry


D.C. Shift: Gun Control to Threat Detection


After an Iraq War veteran took the lives of three other people at Fort Hood, President Obama, Pentagon officials and others in Washington agreed more must be done to spot “in sider threats” before they strike. But what almost no one is saying: change gun laws. The Fort Hood attack is the latest in a string of mass shootings where the response from Washington has shifted from guns – to the shooters who wield them. The push now is to identify those who might become violent before they act, especially when the military is involved. “If we identify new challenges, new threats that we hadn’t recognized before, we need to put into place new programs to respond,” said Army Secretary, John McHugh. The approach is in stark contrast to a few years ago, when Obama believed he could push a significant gun control package through Congress after the Newtown shooting. But after that effort failed, talk of changing gun laws faded – and it is unlikely to return. Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ) said the mental health focus should be on treatment and prevention – not guns. “The key is early identi cation, diagnosis and treatments and when we do that we can avert these tragedies.”


Read more DE CIS IONPOINT


This column is designed to help sharpen your judgment in providing valuable advice regarding how to handle incidents of aggression.


Can a temporary staffing agency be held liable for an employee assigned to work for a third-party when that employee poisons another employee?


The Situation: AMN Healthcare, a staffing agency, dba Nursefinders, provides nurses and medical personnel to hospitals and other medical facilities. Nursefinders hired Theresa Drummond and assigned her to work at a Kaiser medical facility. The plaintiff, Sara Montague, also worked at Kaiser as a medical assistant. The evidence showed that Drummond and Montague had several disagreements and after a few weeks Drummond slipped carbolic acid into Montague’s water bottle which Montague drank causing her throat to burn and causing her to vomit. Drummond admitted that she poured the carbonic acid into Montague’s water bottle.


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