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Co-Workers, Locks Fight Workplace Slayings Better Than High-Tech

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) 2.26.02, 1:40p -- Locked doors and employees working in groups at night do more to reduce the chance of a workplace homicide than gadgets like video cameras and bulletproof glass, a study says.
The study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the equipment that proved most effective was bright lighting. Hiring security guards does some good, but surveillance cameras, signs that a store keeps limited cash on hand and improved visibility of a work area from outside didn't appear to help prevent robbery-related slayings. The results were published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

"In a nutshell, I think what we're seeing is that crime prevention is also good for business," said Corinne Peek-Asa, who studies workplace violence at the University of Iowa's Injury Prevention Research Center. "The good news in what they found was effective is that a comprehensive program (to fight crime) may not be that expensive."

The study didn't explain why some low-tech steps work best, but lead author Dana Loomis said his best guess was that a locked door or the prospect of witnesses would deter someone more than being caught on surveillance equipment.

Researchers compared safety measures taken at North Carolina businesses where 105 workplace deaths -- 60 of which were robbery-related -- occurred between January 1994 and April 1998, with 210 randomly selected locations within the state where no one died.

The comparison produced a homicide risk for each of the safety measures. The low-tech methods were associated with reducing the odds of a homicide by 30 percent to 70 percent, the researchers said.

In its most recent tally of workplace deaths, the Labor Department said in August that homicides rose 4 percent in 2000 to 677, the first increase in six years.