As Paul was walking through the maintenance shop, he caught a glimpse of a silver bar flying through the air. He woke up several hours later in a hospital bed with a pounding headache. His doctor was standing near by. He told Paul that he had been hit in the head by something one of the other mechanics had thrown. The doctor also told Paul the headaches would continue for three or four weeks. Paul was off work for the entire four weeks.
The shop supervisor did a cursory investigation immediately after Paul was taken to the hospital. During the less than fifteen-minute investigation, the supervisor was told another mechanic had thrown piece of stiff cardboard. That mechanic claimed he tossed a piece of cardboard in to a waste pile just as Paul walked by. The shop supervisor accepted this story and dropped the investigation.
State safety investigators did a more thorough investigation though. They came to different conclusion.
Their investigation revealed a shop mechanic tossed a bolt in a fit of anger. He and another mechanic were arguing over ongoing verbal harassment. During the argument, the first mechanic picked up a bolt and hurled it across the room at the other mechanic. Paul walked between them at that moment.
Was this act of violence preventable? According to the state investigators, it was. It was also foreseeable. Here are the issues the investigators noted in their final report on the incident:
For three months, all the mechanics had been working six days a week. They often worked 10 to 12 hours a day. The shop supervisor set this schedule to try and keep pace with equipment breakdowns. After a month, the schedule began to take its toll on the mechanics. Heated arguments were breaking out between employees every day.
To add to this stress, the first mechanic had been verbally taunting the other mechanic for weeks. This was not just an occasional comment but a daily barrage of insults. The shop supervisor was made aware of the worsening morale problems. But he didn’t think they warranted his attention. That was the job of the Human Resources department.
The state investigators disagreed with his assessment of the situation. They noted that job-related stress, fatigue and verbal harassment were leading causes of all workplace violence.
They also felt this case was a prime example of what can happen when these issues go unchecked. They further noted that this incident actually started weeks earlier, not the day Paul was hit in the head. Because moral problems were not addressed, investigators found the company negligent and cited our facility.
Take a look at your shop. Is it a breeding ground for workplace violence? If it is, are you taking action to prevent violence from erupting? Or, will you wait for a citation or worse?
