When we think of workplace violence we tend to think of being harmed by a fellow employee. That is the first impulse and a natural one at that. If you read headline or hear about an incident, first impression is that someone went nuts on the job and hurt co-worker. Or it was a case of harrassment or verbal or psychological abuse.
But workplace violence can occur from without. External forces, non-employees can intrude upon the workplace and cause harm. Very often it is the significant other of a worker who sees fit to invade his partner’s workplace and wreak havoc on his allegedly beloved and perhaps some other workers in a package deal. Women are most often the victims in these case.
But then there are the types of job where workers are vulnerable to violence from external intruders. Workers can be robbed or beaten , killed in the extreme circumstances. There may be a motive behind the violence, such as a robbery, or there may be no motive at all. Just some crazy loon snapped out and decided to hurt somebody.
According the an article from Associated Press, a 48-year-old homeless man is in jail this week after breaking into a Topeka, Kan., television station and stabbing two employees. The incident began after the man, came to the station and talked to the news director about what he saw as his mistreatment at the hands of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The man was told to leave by the news director but returned 10 minutes later, smashing the station’s glass doors with a lamp, and then running through the station wielding a knife and injuring two sales workers. The suspect was eventually tackled and subdued by several employees. Police took the man and the two wounded employees, neither of whom were seriously hurt, to the hospital, before booking the assailant on aggravated battery and other charges.
Bottom line, in this world of ours, you just never know.
