Violence in the workplace is a major security concern. In providing safety for building occupants, security managers must address a wide range of considerations. Prevention through environmental design, physical barriers, perimeter security, and interior physical security are all factors that deter potential criminal acts. Electronic security systems and devices play an increasingly large role in the reduction of workplace violence. The key is to maximize uncertainty for the potential violent offender.
Workplace violence can be classified by its three types of perpetrators: strangers, clients, and employees. Stranger violence includes such acts as robbery and shooting of gas station attendants or retail workers. Client violence is typified by the shooting of a lawyer by a plaintiff. Employee violence is perpetrated by someone employed within the organization. Because stranger violence is considered an external threat (e.g., street crime), this paper will focus on client violence and employee violence. Client violence and employee violence differ from street crime because the former are often foreseeable.
The critical question in minimizing workplace violence has to do with what acts a security system is designed to protect against. Workplace violence not only includes murder, it also encompasses other acts such as assaults, intimidation, stalking, vandalism and sabotage. Client violence and employee violence are particularly insidious because the perpetrators normally have legitimate access to the interior of a targeted facility, thus making it difficult to establish defensible spaces and zones of defense.
Hardly a month goes by without another terrifying act of violence in some American workplace. Many of these incidents involve employees killing their superiors. The normal profile of the violent employee is a white male in his forties who has a troubled background (Flynn, 1996, p. 5). The trouble could ...