Warning Signs of Workplace Violence

It’s no exaggeration to say that workplace violence is any employer’s worst nightmare, whether or not there’s resulting litigation. Given today’s economy, the risk of the nightmare has increased.

One of the latest tragedies has occurred at Ohio State University. A probationary maintenance employee who had been told he would be fired on March 13 (this coming Saturday) killed his immediate supervisor and wounded his supervisor’s boss. He then killed himself. The employee entered the building where he worked in the early morning hours and began shooting with two handguns. While workplace shootings are difficult to prevent, it’s important to learn lessons from these tragedies.

OSU couldn’t have known all the employee’s problems. For example, his girlfriend had just left him. He was fighting foreclosure on his house. His neighbors found him to be short-tempered and had heard him threaten suicide.

Other warning signs were known, or should have been, however. The employee was repeatedly written up for his failure to follow instructions and a belligerent attitude.

The school had learned that he failed to disclose on his employment application that he spent five years in prison. He said he’d never been fired or asked to resign from another job, but his last supervisor at another employer would have fired the employee for the same problems he was having at OSU if he hadn’t quit first. This former supervisor was listed as the employee’s first reference but was never contacted. No background check?

The employee’s history made advance notice of termination questionable. Better to have fired him and removed him from the premises, followed by the consideration of temporary security for his supervisors and co-workers. He still may have killed his supervisor, but more serious attention to the circumstances surrounding the end of his employment was warranted.