AFMA Offers Workplace Security Tips

Furniture World Magazine

Home furnishings manufacturers need a heightened awareness of workplace security issues, according to the American Furniture Manufacturers Association (AFMA). The Association's Human Resources/Safety Division held seminars this week to address concerns raised by the events of September 11, as well as by the rising incidence of violent assaults in the American workplace. "Last year there were 9 million assaults at work, I million of which were violent," reported Charles R. Simmons, vice president of field operations for Norred & Associates, a corporate security firm based in Atlanta. "Murder is now the second leading cause of death at work, second only to motor vehicle accidents." Simmons said the increase in workplace violence can be attributed to a variety of factors, including drug and alcohol abuse, glamorization of violence in the media, the availability of guns, a high divorce rate, the breakdown in family and community ties, and company downsizing and layoffs. James W. Wimberly Jr., a principal in the national management labor law firm of Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Nelson & Schneider, P.C., headquartered in Atlanta, pointed out that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) requires employers to provide protection from "recognized hazards" in the workplace - which recently has been interpreted by the courts to include potentially violent employees or former employees. For example, Wimberly cited a 1999 case in which a North Carolina jury awarded nearly $8 million to the families of two men killed at a plant when a fired employee went on a shooting rampage. "The key issue was whether the company officials properly protected employees from a former employee, who was fired two days earlier because of a string of violent incidents," said Wimberly. To help prevent workplace violence and limit employer liability, Wimberly recommended developing a workplace violence prevention and security program. Elements of such a program depend upon the size and nature of business, he said, but could include a written company policy prohibiting acts of violence and banning weapons on company property.