Violence In Workplace

Aggression and violence are not acts that an individual hopes to see in their average ventures, yet alone in their place of work. But, unfortunately, there have been many scenarios in which employees were placed in positions that have forced them to deal with angry customers, and even unruly coworkers. However, to combat this matter, rules and regulations have been set in place in attempt to make the workplace as safe as possible for all parties involved. One such organization formulated to enforce safety in the workplace was The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Created by the United States Congress with the implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, its purpose was to assure that both men and women …show more content…
Lack of pre-employment screening, stress, and disgruntled customers are frequently considered to be reasons for violence in the workplace. Companies that skimp on the pre-screening of an employee may fail to find indicators of an individual’s violent past and then by bringing this person into the workplace, put their preexisting employees at risk (Chron). Similarly, an employee who is under a lot of stress, whether from personal issues at home, or directly from work, will not have a clear head and be able to make rational decisions. This puts the individual in a position where they may unintentionally lash out at another employee or a customer (Chron). In a similar manner, a disgruntled customer or unhappy former employee, who feels they were either cheated or wrongly fired, may return to the place of work with intentions of seriously hurting the company’s employees (Chron). All three of these causes for workplace violence are not to be taken …show more content…
Take the encounter between an airline stewardess and an upset passenger in the popular film Meet the Parents for example. Gay Focker, the passenger on the airline, is struggling to fit his luggage in the overhead compartment, when the airline stewardess approaches him and tells him that he will need to have that piece of luggage checked. This angers Gay, and the airline stewardess finds herself in a position where she needs to defuse the violence occurring in the workplace, but she does not seem to know how to properly handle the situation. From the start, the stewardess should have identified that the passenger was very stubborn, and should have noted the fact the he had a previous, unsatisfying experience with the airline. Here, the stewardess should have realized that she had a situation on her hands that had potential to escalate