Policing the office | As the Legislature weighs workplace violence prevention mandates, companies assess how to keep workers safe

Johna Lovely of Mapleton has not sat quietly since her 19-year-old daughter was killed last year while working at Tim Horton's in Caribou, a brutal beating Erin Sperrey endured allegedly at the hands of a co-worker. She only wishes that people would listen.

Lovely has been on a campaign to improve workplace safety, particularly in businesses that have a high volume of customers and are open at night, such as convenience stores and fast-food restaurants. She wants a state law that would require businesses to install new security technologies such as panic buttons and surveillance systems. But after a few legislators said they weren't interested in sponsoring such a bill, one lawmaker had to tell Lovely about the workings of the Legislature.

Rep. Jeremy Fischer (D-Presque Isle) said her request would need more oomph to it, primarily a few recommendations that would strengthen existing workplace violence rules, if she wanted to garner a conversation among legislators ˆ— let alone a committee debate on a bill. So Fischer created LD 1699, currently a concept bill aimed at workplace safety that's being shaped with groups such as the Maine Innkeepers Association and Maine Merchants Association. Those participants are considering at least six ideas ˆ— ranging from mandatory workplace violence prevention training for businesses with more than 15 employees to posters stating that violence will not be tolerated on the job ˆ— for inclusion on the bill. It could head to the Legislature's Labor Committee and a public hearing next month. "We don't want a knee-jerk reaction," Fischer said. "We want a well-thought-out policy that is going to be fair to everyone."

Already, though, Maine employers are wondering whether such a bill can indeed be fair to all businesses in the state. Though business owners typically don't question whether workplace violence prevention programs are necessary ˆ— they say they know they are ˆ— small-business owners in particular worry about the cost and the time involved to study safety issues and educate staff.

Some employers also say that new rules are redundant, because they're already curbing workplace violence in one way or another ˆ— such as with a fully-staffed safety department at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, or with regular staff meetings at Becky's Diner in Portland. "I don't oppose [a workplace safety program] because we're having meetings all the time," said Becky Rand, owner of Becky's Diner. "I just don't want to have one more thing to pay for to bring someone in here and do it."

Yet many human resources consultants say there's no substitute for formal, written policies. "When you have a policy in place, it gives the problem a name and address," said Richard V. Denenberg, co-founder of Workplace Solutions Inc., a non-profit training and mediation firm in Red Hook, N.Y. "It promises you an intimidation-free workplace."

And even though many businesses may believe that existing state laws and the policies they have in place are enough, supporters of Fischer's bill cite the example of businesses recognizing domestic violence as a workplace issue. It took a domestic-violence induced murder-suicide at Bangor Travel Agency in 1989 to get the public's attention that there is always more that can be done to safeguard workers. In the 17 years since then, Maine has enacted several laws to protect workers from losing their jobs if being victimized and allowing paid time off to attend counseling sessions. (See "The impact of abuse," June 7, 2004.)

Now, Fischer wants the public to know that worker-on-worker or customer-on-worker violence should be the next area of attention. Less than a month after Sperrey was killed, Allison Small, co-owner of Vinalhaven Transportation Inc. in Rockland, allegedly was killed by a co-worker at the business while she was trying to end an affair with him. "As I've said many times, what's the cost of a human life?"

"A moral obligation"
Workplace violence can take so many forms that researchers and government agencies categorize it in four ways: customer or stranger induced; health care worker hurt by a patient; employee on employee; or domestic violence.

In all, 400 workplace assaults occurred in Maine between 2002 and 2003, the most recent figures available by the Maine Department of Labor, with health care workers being hurt by patients the most common form. Besides assaults, customers killed three workers while on the job between 1998 and 2001, and a migrant blueberry raker killed a co-worker in their housing camp during that period.

Numbers aside, it would seem that most businesses would have a workplace violence prevention policy in place ˆ— if only to limit their exposure to liability or an investigation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But only one percent of companies actually have formal policies in place, according to a 2004 survey by the American Society of Safety Engineers. Ninety percent of the businesses in Maine have fewer than 20 employees, making them unlikely to have a specific human resources or security department like larger companies to handle workplace violence prevention issues.

Too often, workplace violence prevention is ignored, according to Denenberg. Instead, he says, businesses could go a long way toward ensuring a safe, violence-free work environment by creating a formal policy, then creating a well-defined line of communication for employees to report their concerns. "[Businesses] are too passive in prevention," said Denenberg. "When you [set a policy], you're lowering your risk factors. If something does happen, you're ready to react." (See "Safe zones," this page, for more on the basics of a workplace violence policy.)

Mae Landesman, senior director of human resources at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, agrees, arguing that employees are entitled to a workplace that is free of coercion, intimidation and bullying. "It's part of the moral obligation of an employer," Landesman said. "It boils down to communication. If the individual feels they are cared for by the organization and taken care of, that's paramount."

At Jackson Laboratory, a department of seven is devoted to workplace and employee safety. That safety effort includes several practical measures: The entire facility, from its buildings to its parking lots, is patrolled by a 12-person security force and monitored by surveillance cameras, and all employees are required to carry computerized pass keys. But the effort also includes education and outreach measures, such as informing all employees of the services available for them to air grievances or to receive professional help. Those include an employee assistance program, an employee health center and a listing of telephone numbers of outside professionals that they can call for mediation or counseling for potential victims or perpetrators.

All employees also are informed that violence in any form will not be allowed, according to Landesman. "Individuals will be let go," she said. "[Violence] will not be tolerated."
At AAA-Northern New England in Portland, a workplace violence prevention program is part of every new employee orientation, said Human Resources Manager Steve Coffey. His department also conducts annual updates on those policies for employees and contractors.

The program includes training in on-the-job safety procedures, such as how to deal with irate customers calling into AAA. Another component informs workers of where they can seek help if other employees are threatening them ˆ— and giving employees assurances that the problems will be handled. "The worst thing is for an employee to feel that they are being harassed and nothing is being done about it," Coffey said.

An employee assistance program, similar to one offered at The Jackson Lab, also is available to AAA-Northern New England employees, Coffey said. There, employees can get emotional help for workplace stresses as well as any form of strain from personal relationships. If the employee assistance program can't help in a three-session allotment, other places are suggested.

Just how much it costs to set up the program is hard to quantify, Coffey said. It takes time to conduct workplace risk assessments and program development meetings, plus arrange counseling and mediation services connections in communities. "It's not like you can say there's a beginning and an end," he said. "It's not a project. It's a process."

Learning from each other
Many small businesses in Maine also would like to offer those options to their staffs, but worry that they don't have the resources that an organization like The Jackson Lab or AAA-Northern New England can dedicate to the program.

If managers can't afford to hire a workplace violence training specialist to help establish a program and instead decide to establish a policy alone, the issue becomes knowing how to begin the process. "Most small businesses in Maine don't have the capacity or ability to sit down and know what to say" about workplace violence prevention, said Jim McGregor, executive director of the Maine Merchants Association. "Someone's going to have to provide them with some guidance on that."

Currently, the state Department of Labor's website offers a brochure with tips on what to discuss with workers, according to Commissioner Laura Fortman. Fortman, former director of the Maine Women's Lobby, a strong proponent of domestic violence prevention programs, said she has not seen Fischer's legislation and is interested in reviewing what he comes up with. "We think it's helpful that employees have workplace violence prevention policies in place before waiting for something to happen," she said. "Framing it in a safety prevention way is a good idea."

Without a mandate in place, however, most small-business owners patrol themselves, according to Bill Farley, owner of Radio Communications Management Inc., a seller and installer of communications systems in Portland. "You learn from each other," he said.

Through his career, Farley has witnessed two incidents of workplace violence. Once a woman hit another woman in a situation of ongoing jealousy. The attacker was fired. In another situation, a man repeatedly verbally assaulted a co-worker over a period of time. Disciplinary actions were being taken when the man left the company. "Come to find out he had a brain tumor and he passed away," Farley said. "You never know."

Farley thinks businesses should establish their own policies without state intervention, and believes it would be a good idea to tie violence prevention programs in with annual sexual harassment prevention sessions. But he would like some advice on how to keep the programs interesting.

Farley says those annual training sessions become redundant if the same information is reviewed each and every year. "The attitude of people who have been through it a number of times affects the new people who haven't," Farley said of annual sexual harassment policy reviews he takes as a volunteer fireman. "I wouldn't stop it at this point because it's necessary. It's better than nothing I guess."

At Becky's Diner, appropriate behavior is outlined in an employee manual that's been given to the restaurant's 40 employees. If there is a problem, owner Rand said she handles it by conducting a mediation session with the employees involved. But usually a problem will correct itself by one worker leaving, and the person who goes generally does not fit in with the rest of the staff, which Rand calls "a small and sober group."

Cynthia Hardy, owner of Bangor Travel Services, formerly Bangor Travel Agency, said some of her agents still remember the day the murder-suicide took place in 1989 and are a little more wary when strangers or vagrants come in. If the travel agents become suspicious of any unwanted visitor, they use gestures for one of them to call the police. So far, it's worked.

Hardy, a mother of three children, said she wonders how she would react if she were in Lovely's situation, coping with a daughter being killed while on the job. She agrees that something must be done to improve workplace violence prevention programs, but any conversation right now shows the major hurdle that must be overcome ˆ— how to write a policy that is applicable to both small and large businesses, while being cost effective for the smaller ones. "I think my view and a larger company's view," said Hardy, "are two different things."