Employers Try to Combat On-Job Violence

Fistfights, guns and obscene and threatening phone calls are the top concerns of Southern California employers worrying over violence on the job, a survey by an Irvine-based personnel company found.

One in five of the human resource directors surveyed by Thomas Staffing Services reported experience with workplace violence. Half said they worry about future violence at their companies; at companies with more than 250 employees, 64% of the executives expressed concern.

Nearly all of the latter group said preventive measures, including pre-employment screening, employee hotlines and monitoring for too-demanding supervisors, can minimize violence, said Gene C. Wilson, Thomas’ president.

Market Research Associates, an independent firm, conducted the study for Thomas by interviewing executives at 951 randomly selected companies.

The North Carolina-based Safe Workplace Institute calculates the dollar cost of a single episode of serious workplace violence at $250,000. That includes liability lawsuits, medical and psychiatric care, property damage and--most important--losses from the death or injury of valued employees.

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E. Scott Reckard covers workplace issues for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7407 and at scott.reckard@latimes.com.