Threat of violence in the workplace

Jonathan McCoy

Hello,

I would be grateful if somebody could give me advice on the following altercation I had with an employee at work today:

I work as a Health & Safety Officer with the company I am employed with. As part of this role I have at times to make decisions that some people JUST DONT LIKE.

I have been getting hassle from a particular employee and have had runins with him on a few occassions because he did not want to:

1. Recognise my authorithy as a H&S Officer.

2. Comply with reasonable H&S directions which I deliver.

This particular person is of the unsvoury kind and has had runins with other colleagues and management on numerous occassions.

Today we had another altercation which went like this:

I was carrying out an inspection in one of the areas of the plant. I was standing observing something when I caught this man behind me sniggering with an other employee and aiming it in my direction. The impression I got was that he was gesturing "Look at that w**k*r".

On seeing this behaviour I turned around and politely said "Is there a problem here ?". The person responded with "What do you mean ?". I said "I have just seen you laughing and sniggering at me behind my back, which I consider to be undermining me". He turned around and said "No I wasn't ! If I wanted to laugh at you I would do so into your face", he then went onto call me a few foulmouthed names which I cant mention here (but you get the idea) before saying "Why dont you run off now and tell the General Manager". I responded with "I will, because I am not tolerating this beahaviour".

We left it at that and I walked away to carry out the business I was doing. He then followed me down the floor, stopped me in the middle of a conversation I was having and said "Come on, lets take this outside to be settled !" I responded calmly and said "No, I am not that sort of person and I am taking your comments as a threat". He then muttered another few profanities before walking away. When he did I resumed my work related conversation and set about my duties.

Am I right in initiating disciplinary action against this man ?

I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

AARRRGH

Of course! This guy has got to go. He should be fired for this. If your workplace do not act upon this you should sue them for accepting this kind of behaviour in the workplace.

Insane!!

daveg

That is totally unacceptable behaviour.

Check out your grievance procedure with HR. Also inform HR so the incident (I presume you are an *arm* of HR anyway in H&S).

homeOwner

hey, you've already posted this over on the work forum!

Victor

As H&S officer, you should know that bullying is unacceptable.

Enii

Write up exactly what happened straight away before you forget all the facts.

Dr. Evil

Fire him without thinking twice!
What a jerk!

Good luck.

dahamsta

While the "let's take it outside" person sounds like a typical knuckledragger, doesn't anyone think that the OP was overreacting with his first action? Sounded like schoolyard silliness to me.

pclancy

Jesus does he not realise that as H&S officer your work is to help peoples work lives be safe and hassle-free including his own? what an idiot hope he gets P45 on his desk.

I wouldnt hesitate about reporting everything, your company will respect your opinion way over whatever rubbish he sprouts in his defence.

deisemum

Jonathon have you done anything about this yet?
Can you ask who you were talking to, to verify what happened?

Jonathan McCoy

Reported him to HR. Action was taken. Shouldn't happen again. Thanks for all ye're advice.:D

democrates

Be careful.

Sounds similar to some of the types I've met in the past.

He was backing down initially and denying his behaviour. It was after you said you were going to complain to the boss about him because "I'm not going to tolerate this behaviour" that he lost the plot. This could be what you're dealing with:

He hates authority and wants to attack it. You may just have seen the surface of a pent-up rage that's waiting to vent. He takes things personally and far from this being over you may just have become enemy number one.

When management came down on him he may blame that entirely on you. Even if they pointed out that he's being disciplined because he's had problems with many people and it's him that's out of line, he's just thinking he's in there now because of you. Any apology would be just to keep his job.

He may be engaged in a whispering campaign now to discredit you, a story told in terms of the hardship of his life and how you've been arrogant with the bit of power you've been given and nearly got him sacked just so you could prance around giving orders, and him with a wife and six children, oh the injustice of it all. No doubt his colleagues know better, though aren't likely to take on the job of confronting him on the issue.

What you've got is responsibility, and that must of course be matched with a level of control. But if you use the word authority or appear to be looking down your nose that's only going to goad and provoke this kind of mentality. Of course your job is to exert authority, but know the risks associated with what you're dealing with and couch your approach accordingly.

Personally I see the oddballs as a top challenge and on two seperate jobs I was the only one in work who built a good working relationship with these guys. Let alone was that a feather in my own cap, but it made their days less tortuous and was a winning point at subsequent interviews.

All I did was show them respect, listen to their views, acknowledge their difficulties and so on. In one case I was the supervisor so I made sure to let him know that I didn't think I was any better than anyone else, but was just trying to do my job. You can't follow HR textbook directions in these things because the real world language used to build positivity with rough diamonds is unprintable.