The Workplace Violence Prevention Handbook

• Publication year: 2013
• Pages: 61
• Citation: Vol. 42 No. 9 Pg. 61

42 Colo.Law. 61 The Workplace Violence Prevention Handbook Vol. 42 No. 9 [Page 61] Colorado Bar Journal September, 2013

By Kristine A. Bates

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The Workplace Violence Prevention Handbook

by Don Philpott and Don Grimme

207 pp.; $40

Government Institutes, 2009

4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200, Lanham, MD 20706

(800) 462-6420; www.govinstpress.com

Reviewed by Kristine A. Bates

Kris Bates is in-house counsel for Denver Water, specializing in employment and benefit-related law—kris. bates@denverwater. org.

News reports of violence in the workplace are all too common, but many of us continue to believe that "it can't happen here" or "it can't be prevented." The Workplace Violence Prevention Handbook {Handbook) dispels those notions by reminding us that violence isn't always a tragic event performed by a disgruntled former employee. It's more often a series of lesser events, such as bullying, that employers tend to ignore.

Although individuals are ultimately responsible for causing violence, employers can contribute to the problem by fostering negative working environments and practices, or by ignoring the possibility that it could actually occur in their workplace. The Handbook provides useful guidance to identify such environments and practical steps for turning them around. The Handbook also contains many real-life case studies, along with very practical suggestions for identifying the warning signs the employer overlooked and what the...