Tag Archives: Workplace Violence

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Governments Tackle Workplace Bullying and Harassment

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This week, South Korea enacted new legislation addressing “gapjil,” or bosses using their power to bully their employees. The measure criminalizes the practice of unfairly demoting or dismissing employees who have reported being subjected to bullying, imposing a three-year prison sentence or a 30 million won (approximately ,400) fine for the practice.

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Workplace harassment is common in the country, with two-thirds of workers experiencing harassment and 80% witnessing it, according to a recent government study.

South Korean advocacy groups like Gapjil 119, which operates a hotline for victims of abuse, have tried to fight against workplace abuses by cataloging and publicizing cases that range from employers forcing workers to pluck their grey hairs to serious violence and degradation. Several recent high-profile incidents have sparked a national debate over this conduct, including in late 2018, when videos emerged of Korea Future Technology CEO Yang Jin-ho and Marker Group CEO Song Myung-bin physically assaulting their staff members. Yang has been indicted, and Song is facing legal charges.

Experts say that South Korea’s culture of “chaebols,” or family-run conglomerates, has also enabled abuses because these companies lack external restraints on their executives’ behavior. Korean Air dynasty matriarch Lee Myung-hee was indicted in February for routinely physically and verbally abusing her staff, and Lee’s daughter, Heather Cho made headlines in December when she attacked two flight attendants for serving her macadamia nuts in a bag instead of a bowl, and demanded that the plane return to the gate. Cho was ordered to pay 20 million won (,000) to the flight attendants and served five months of a one-year prison sentence for violating aviation law.
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These and other incidents at the company even prompted a mass demonstration of Korean Air employees and the formation of an employee union.

Other countries are also attempting to address workplace bullying of this kind, similarly spurred by high-profile cases of abuse. This month in France, former France Télécom executives stood trial for overseeing an environment of workplace abuses that allegedly led to at least 35 employees committing suicide between 2008 and 2009. The company reportedly sought to downsize 22,000 workers, but could not fire them because they were state employees, so instead systematically harassed them to drive them out. Examples of this harassment included forcing employees to relocate multiple times away from their families or drastically changing their jobs. The case is awaiting judgment, but the company faces a possible fine of €75,000 (about $84,000) and the executives could serve a year in jail and have to pay additional fines themselves.

Additionally, Japan is attempting to address workplace “pawa hara” (or power harassment) as reports of workplace bullying and abuses have reached record numbers for multiple years in a row, according to the country’s Workplace Harassment Research Institute. The measures are partially in response to a government worker released an audio file of his boss, lawmaker Mayuko Toyota, insulting him and hitting him in the face and on the head. Toyota later resigned her post, and according to Kyodo News, was hospitalized for “her unstable mental condition.”

Japan’s parliament voted in May 2019 to revise five existing laws and require companies to put mechanisms in place to prevent workplace abuses. The revisions also protect pregnant women and women who have recently returned from pregnancy leave from discrimination.

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Similar to South Korea’s new law, Japan’s new law would bar employers from firing or discriminating against employees who report harassment, and require consultation when employees make reports of abuses. However, unlike South Korea’s law, these revisions do not outline any punitive measures for companies and their executives if they violate the requirements.

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The government reportedly decided against fully banning “pawa hara” because lawmakers had difficulty defining which actions qualified as harassment.

RIMS Report: Active Shooter Preparedness For Your Organization

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More than 51 mass shootings have already been documented by GunViolenceArchive.org in 2019, many of which occurred in commercial settings and workplaces. It is clear that workplace shootings are occurring regularly in the United States. By customizing an active shooter plan that focuses on prevention, training, feedback and post-incident protocols, employees will be mentally and physically prepared to react to violent threats, according to a new RIMS Professional Report titled, “Active Shooter Preparedness for Your Organization.”

Authored by RIMS Business Content Writer Justin Smulison and featuring insight from workplace violence and business continuity experts, the report highlights opportunities for risk professionals and their organizations to identify warning signs of potential attacks, best practices in communication and pre-event training, as well as strategies to implement a coordinated effort that minimizes injuries, property damage and reduces uncertainties.

“Physical security measures are nothing more than deterrents,” said Steve Smith, founder and president of Guardian Defense and report contributor. “Every individual in the organization needs to know how to respond to an active threat in order to mitigate the situation. Risk professionals are well-positioned within their organizations to drive discussions, awareness and take a leading role in the development of a workplace violence prevention and response strategy.”

The report is currently available exclusively to RIMS members. To download the report, visit RIMS Risk Knowledge library at www.RIMS.org/RiskKnowledge. For more information about the Society and to learn about other RIMS publications, educational opportunities, conferences and resources, visit www.RIMS.org.

For more threat preparedness insight from Steve Smith, download his interview on RIMScast and read his Q&A about school preparedness on Risk Management Monitor.

Fed Program Initiates Life-Saving Training for Shootings, Terror Attacks

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The length of time victims wounded in school shootings and terror attacks must wait for help from an EMT could be minutes or hours—during which time they could bleed to death.

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This has happened in a number of cases, including a shooting at an Orlando nightclub in June, when a woman bled to death while waiting for help to arrive.

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These incidents have prompted the Department of Homeland Security’s Stop the Bleed campaign, a nationwide initiative to empower individuals to act quickly and save lives in emergency situations. Bystanders are asked to take simple steps to keep an injured person alive until medical care is available.

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Security guards, custodians, teachers and administrators are being trained at schools and other places to administer first aid until help arrives.

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Stony Brook University Hospital’s trauma center is spearheading training for school districts and colleges across the country. According to the Associated Press:

At a recent training session, paramedics and doctors brought in fake body parts—blood spurting from the wounds—to show staffers of a Long Island school district how to tie tourniquets and pack open wounds with whatever they have.

“Seconds matter. It really can be minutes when you can lose your life,” said Dr. James Vosswinkel, the chief of trauma and emergency surgery at Stony Brook University Hospital, who led the training.

Doctors emphasized that in the critical seconds after an attack it’s important for teachers and other school staff to stay calm and begin assessing injuries. Teachers learned to apply tourniquets in case a student is shot in the arms or legs—using T-shirts or belts, if necessary—and to stick anything they can to pack wounds in the torso.

Stony Brook doctors have reached out to local schools to offer the training, but are looking to expand the program as part of a federal Department of Homeland Security initiative to other schools, colleges and police departments across the country.

“Nobody should die from preventable hemorrhage,” Vosswinkel said.

Active Shooter Preparations Lagging, Study Finds

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Between 2014 and 2015, the United States experienced nearly six times as many active shooter incidents as it did between 2000 and 2001, according to the FBI.

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The report, Active Shooter Preparedness by Everbridge, found that even though U.S. companies are overwhelmingly concerned about violence and violent acts in the workplace, they remain unprepared.

Out of 888 organizations surveyed about their safety plans and ability to manage an active shooter situation, only 21% felt that they were prepared; and 79% said their organizations were at best somewhat prepared for an active shooter incident. Even among those who feel they are prepared, only 7% are “very much prepared,” Everbridge said.
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Preparedness is important, as companies cannot rely solely on police and other government assistance.

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According to an FBI study of active shooter events between 2000 and 2013, 60% ended before the police arrived. Adequate preparedness requires communication and practice plans to make sure responders know who is at risk and that people know what to do if an event happens.

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Despite this, close to 40% of respondents said they did not have a communications plan in place for active shooter events.
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The survey also found that executives of organizations are much more concerned about employee or student safety than they were two years ago—the overwhelming majority (79%) said they were.
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Other Findings:

  • 69% of respondents view an active shooter incident as a potential top threat to their company or organization. Workplace violence was cited as a top threat by 62%.
  • Communicating to people who may be in an impacted building and confirming their safety was seen as the biggest challenge during an active shooter situation (71% of respondents).
  • Safety concerns are growing: 79% of executives/leaders are more concerned about employee or student safety than they were two years ago; 73% said that employees or students are willing to exchange some aspects of privacy for enhanced security.
  • 61% do not run any active shooter preparedness drills at all.