First one in a while but yet another USPS shooting rampage. So what is going on here? Is it really that stressful of a job? Do they hire people who are prone to mental illness?

I think this was the first one in 8 years. The USPS is a very large organization, with many employees, so I don't know if it has more incidents than other similar sized companies or not.

I think this was the first one in 8 years. The USPS is a very large organization, with many employees, so I don't know if it has more incidents than other similar sized companies or not.

Perhaps not, but is there another large company (car manufacters, etc.) that has had more than one?

First one in a while but yet another USPS shooting rampage. So what is going on here? Is it really that stressful of a job? Do they hire people who are prone to mental illness?
How would you feel......if you had to make change all day on 32 cent increments?

In all seriousness, it is sad, but I think it is just the size of the organization.

Len

How would you feel......if you had to make change all day on 32 cent increments?

In all seriousness, it is sad, but I think it is just the size of the organization.

Len

No wonder your mail keeps getting returned; stamps cost more than $.32.

she also murdered her old neighbor... Seems like she might have been revisiting regrets about her pre-retirement life and exercising her demons.

Perhaps not, but is there another large company (car manufacters, etc.) that has had more than one?

Dunno, but there was a study in 2000.

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:G1puqszOnxUJ:list.mc.duke.edu/cgi-bin/wa%3FA2%3Dind0008%26L%3Doem-announce%26T%3D0%26F%3D%26S%3D%26P%3D6686+2000+usp s+study+workplace+violence&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=firefox-a

from google cache:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

http://www.casacolumbia.org/newsletter1457/newsletter_show.htm?doc_id=34000

10 a.m. ET, Thursday, August 31, 2000 Contact: Alyse Booth (212) 841-5260

Two-Year Independent Postal Commission Study Finds: "Going Postal" Is A Myth

Postal Workers No More Likely To Commit or Be Victims of Violence Than Those in National Workforce

Postal Workers Only a Third as Likely as Those in National Workforce To Be Homicide Victims

WASHINGTON, D.C. - "Going Postal" is a myth: postal workers are no more likely to physically assault, sexually harass or verbally abuse their coworkers than employees in the national workforce, according to a report of the independent United States Postal Service Commission on A Safe and Secure Workplace, presented to the Postmaster General today by Joseph A. Califano, Jr., chairman of the commission and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The 249-page report concludes two years of study and reveals that postal workers are only a third as likely as those in the national workforce to be victims of homicide at work (0.26 vs. 0.77 per 100,000 workers annually from 1992 through 1998, the most recent comparable data available). Comparing industries, retail workers are eight times likelier than postal employees to be homicide victims at work; comparing occupations, taxi drivers are 150 times likelier than letter carriers to be homicide victims at work.

"'Going postal' is a myth, a bad rap," said Califano, "causing unnecessary apprehension and fear among 900,000 postal workers. This report should shatter the myth that postal workers are more violent than other workers and discourage the pejorative use of that expression."

The groundbreaking report includes the most comprehensive survey ever conducted of violence in the American workforce. Of the nearly 12,000 postal workers and 3,000 employees in the national workforce surveyed:

- One in 20 workers was physically assaulted at work in the past year (five percent of both postal workers and those in the national workforce).

- More than one in six employees were sexually harassed at work (14% of postal workers and 16% of those in the national workforce).

- About one-third of workers were verbally abused on the job (36% of postal workers and 33% of those in the national workforce).

The commission found this a disturbing and unacceptable level of violence in the American workplace.

The commission also found that postal workers are:

- About as likely as those in the national workforce to be victims of physical assault by co-workers (4 percent vs. 3 percent).

- Less likely to be victims of physical assault by outsiders (0.4 percent vs. 2.3 percent).

"We hope that this report will help achieve the goal of making the Postal Service the gold standard for safe and secure workplaces for all American workers and that it will be of use to other public and private employers and labor leaders as well, " said Califano.

The independent commission was established in 1998 by Postmaster General William J. Henderson to "detail concrete steps which the Postal Service can take to make its 38,000 post offices and related facilities the safest possible environment." The USPS is the second largest civilian employer in the country, delivering some 3.4 billion pieces of mail weekly.

The other commission members are: Douglas A. Fraser, former president, United Auto Workers and currently, Professor of Labor Studies, Wayne State University; Beatrix A. Hamburg, M.D., past president of the William T. Grant Foundation, currently Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and an expert on violence; David A. Hamburg, M.D., President Emeritus at Carnegie Corporation of New York and past president of the Institute of Medicine; John E. Robson, Deputy Treasury Secretary in the Bush Administration, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and former dean of the School of Business Administration at Emory University, and Robert B. Zoellick, Undersecretary of State and White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Bush Administration, and former Executive Vice President, Fannie Mae.

HOMICIDES IN THE WORKPLACE

The commission conducted a meticulous examination of the 29 incidents of workplace homicide involving postal workers as either victims or perpetrators from 1986 to 1999. This revealed:

- 15 postal employee perpetrators killed 34 postal employees; 19 non-postal perpetrators killed 14 postal employees.

- Fourteen out of 15 postal perpetrators had troubled histories of violence, mental illness, substance abuse and/or criminal convictions. Five exhibited behavior prior to employment that should have excluded them from being hired.

- Motives included robbery, intimate relationships, and terminations.

- Male veterans were no more likely than other male postal employees to be perpetrators of homicides.

- Guns were used in all the homicides by postal employee perpetrators and 90 percent of homicides by non-postal perpetrators.

- Most perpetrators (20 of 34) either had a known history of substance abuse or were known to be under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs at the time of the homicide. The number is likely higher because investigations in most other cases were inconclusive.

In examining homicides for workers from 1992 through 1998 in all major industries, the commission found that at 2.10 per 100,000 the retail trade had the highest rate, followed by public administration, including police, at 1.66 per 100,000. Among occupations, the commission found homicide rates were highest for taxi drivers and chauffeurs at 31.54 per 100,000, followed by police at 6.46 per 100,000. The homicide rate at USPS ranked low at only 0.26 per 100,000.

ATTITUDES: POSTAL WORKFORCE VS. NATIONAL WORKFORCE

The commission survey found postal employees to be less angry, aggressive, hostile, depressed and stressed than those in the national workforce and better at coping. At the same time, postal employees' attitudes about work, management and co-workers are more negative than those of employees in the national workforce. Postal workers are:

- nearly six times likelier than those in the national workforce to believe they are more likely than the average worker to be victims of violence by co-workers (17 vs. 3 percent). In reality, the likelihood is nearly identical (4 percent vs. 3 percent).

- less confident in management's fairness and honesty (37 percent vs. 60 percent).

- less likely to agree their employer takes action to protect them (52 percent vs. 70 percent).

RECOMMENDATIONS

The commission found that the Postal Service has comprehensive violence prevention programs but execution can be improved, and that the backlog of grievances and dual compensation system cause friction within the organization. The commission made a number of recommendations for USPS management, unions, and management associations including:

- Continue and step up violence prevention programs already in place and address underlying sources of friction.

- Screen job applicants more carefully for potential violence.

- Clarify policy of zero tolerance for violence and improve employee understanding of the policy.

- Continue violence awareness training for employees, with unions having a greater role.

- Assure that warning signals are heeded by improving operation of local teams established to assess threats of violence and respond to violent crises.

- Improve security by establishing a communications system for carriers, especially in high-crime and remote areas.

- Assure employees of the confidentiality of the employee assistance program and encourage joint local management/union oversight of the program.

- Limit potential for violence during and after employee terminations by training managers and union officials how to handle terminations.

- Increase training to improve interpersonal skills of managers and strengthen incentives to focus managers' attention on the work environment.

- Overhaul the dispute resolution processes.

- Agree on system of financial performance incentives for craft employees.

"We hope that other employers and labor leaders across America will find these analyses and recommendations useful, and we encourage them to make a searching examination of the unacceptable level of violence in the American workplace," concluded the commission.

The commission report was prepared by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA). CASA's staff of more than 60 professionals, includes 16 Doctorates and 15 Masters in the fields of business, communications, computer engineering, criminology, economics, education, government, history, journalism, linguistics, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, public health, public policy, social work, sociology and statistics; one M.D., and three attorneys. CASA conducts demonstration programs at 38 sites in 25 cities in 16 states, and issues public policy reports on a variety of topics including assessments of the impact of substance abuse and addiction on American populations and systems.