Bermuda's employers should act now to stop a rise in levels of violence in the workplace, according to the head of an employee help group.

Martha Pitman, executive director of the Employee Assistance Programme, said that the rise in levels of violence in the US, UK and Canada was part of a worrying world-wide trend which could be heading for Bermuda.

“The whole world, including this country, is seeing a worrying trend of increased violence,” she said. And she said that increased levels of violence in Bermuda could be an indicator of things to come in the work place.

Ms Pitman and other professionals fear that this wave of violence will hit Bermuda's shores sooner rather than later - and if they are not careful employers will not be prepared to stop the rising levels of crime on their doorstep. “We have had feedback generally from companies who have concerns about these issues,” said Ms Pitman. “This is not just about someone hitting someone on the head, it is about veiled threats and real threats to people in the workplace.”

She said that in the past year the EAP had received several calls about violence in the workplace or workers involved in domestic violence.

And employers were now worried that there may be a rise in the number of cases of violence at work, reflecting the rising world-wide trends.

Ms Pitman said that in the UK several years ago violence in the workplace was almost unheard of, but now it had been described as reaching “epidemic proportions” following trends in the US and Canada. So in response to the concern that even Bermuda will be affected, Ms Pitman is bringing in an expert on workplace security to help employers understand the situation.

Paul Viollis is flying over from the US in April to give two half day seminars on “Avoiding Workplace Violence”, which Ms Pitman hopes will give employers the necessary tools to deal with flare situations before they become a problem.

“There are questions such as ‘how do you conduct a termination in the case where the employee may become violent?'” said Ms Pitman. “And how can you identify the people who may be potentially violent long before it actually happens. These are the kinds of things we want to know.” Mr. Viollis, who speaks at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club on April 15, said that the signs are easy to identify once you know what to look for.

“The amazing part is the way the signs are extremely blatant - but invisible to the untrained eye,” he said in a telephone interview in Melbourne, Florida. “The trick is to be able to read the signs before it escalates and it becomes a violent incident.”

He said that there were two kinds of violence to look out for, employee on employee violence and domestic violence, which could spill over.

“There is employee on employee violence and the other is domestic violence where you are talking about violence, stalking or even murder,” he said. “There is a standard person who fits the profile, is typically aged between 23 and 45, a loner, a quiet type of person who is argumentative, frustrated, anti-management and boasts about getting even.”

And he said that triggers could be anything from a reduction in hours, to lay-offs to even feeling a manager is being condescending when giving a performance review.

“It can be anything from indirect to direct verbal threats, to threatening behaviour to a superior, signs of depression... many things,” said Mr. Viollis.

And he said at these stages where organisations such as the EAP should be called in for help, and the situation could be diffused. “If you catch it early on you can assist the person and mitigate the situation so they can return to work,” he said. “But if you catch it too late you can end up with an at risk termination when the employee is angry or an act of violence.”