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West Virginia Workplace Violence

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Is it true that workplace violence is increasing in West Virginia?

Statistics from the U.S. Labor Department actually show that workplace killings are down 50% since 1994, the year with the highest reported rate. Workplace violence, whether in West Virginia or nationwide, is down.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, compiles the numbers. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the number of violent workplace deaths went down 5% from 2005 to 2006 – dropping from 792 to 754.

The figures also show that the figures in 2006 were the lowest since the BLS started keeping statistics.

This may seem surprising, given the high-profile tragedies that capture headlines.

Most tragic of all were the shootings at Virginia Tech, where on April 16 of 2007 a young man shot and killed 32 students and staff, wounded 17 others, and killed himself. Seung-Hui Cho had killed two people in a dormitory early in the day. Police called the incident a “domestic dispute” and a “murder-suicide” despite the fact that no gun was found at the scene. University officials were criticized for not acting sooner and shutting down the school.

Cho, according to OSHA, demonstrated many of the warning signs of workplace homicide. He had a history of untreated mental health problems. He showed an unwholesome interest in weapons. And he developed obsessive crushes on and jealousy over women he barely knew.

In another incident, police arrested a Delaware University student after a shooting on the school’s 400-acre main campus in Dover, Delaware, left 2 other students dead. The university put the campus on lockdown, and confined all 1,700 students to their dormitories.

A 40-year-old Denny’s Restaurant waitress in Orlando, Florida, was stabbed to death by her estranged husband over Labor Day. Coworkers and customers chased the man, and he escaped over a fence, leaving behind a bloody knife and both of his shoes. Paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive the woman, who died of her wounds. JH