Almost a quarter of respondents to a workplace survey conducted in the US reported incidents of company property being destroyed in the last 12 months. Over 10% said that fights had occurred in the workplace and 15% reported verbal threats by employees against management.

The International Facility Management Association, which conducted its Corporate Facility Monitor survey last month, says incidents such as the killing on Boxing Day of seven dot.com staff in Wakefield Massachusetts are sounding an alarm for facility professionals, human resource managers and security personnel as their companies take steps to prevent workplace violence with increased security.

IFMA reports 88% of those surveyed consider security a high priority, and 75% report an increase in security measures in the past 12 months. Violent and criminal acts that respondents reported in that time period were: major thefts (57%); verbal threats among employees (27%); threatening phone calls (25%); destruction of company property (22 percent); verbal threats from employees to management (15%); bomb threats (14.6 percent); fights (10.6 percent); domestic violence occurring at work (6%); weapons brought to work (5%); and sexual assault (1.7%). The picture is not completely bleak, hostage situations, actual or attempted bombings, and actual or attempted murders occurred in less than one per cent of facilities responding.

Downsizing, layoffs, outsourcing, restructuring, striking workers, replacing permanent workers with temporary staff and other incidents of workplace violence reported by the media were cited as circumstances that would drive companies to increase security.

Among the security measures already in place in facilities managed by survey respondents are:

The Corporate Facility Monitor survey on workplace violence was sent electronically to more than 3,000 IFMA members, with 840 responding.

www.ifma.org

Richard Byatt