For Immediate Release
November 7, 2008

Workplace violence on the rise: Professionals learn how to prevent violence in UCR Extension's class

RIVERSIDE, CALIF. – In the early '90s, workplace violence was at its peak in the United States. For three years in a row (1992-1994), more than 1,000 people each year were murdered at work. In response, California developed nationally accepted standards to prevent workplace violence. Over the next two decades, the chances of being killed at work decreased steadily.

In 2007, however, workplace violence spiked once again. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workplace homicides increased 13 percent last year, from 540 people killed in 2006 to 610 in 2007.  Police officers and retail sales workers were most likely to report to work and never make it home. The current recession and massive layoffs may be a contributing factor, research suggests.

"If employees' livelihoods are threatened, they might express it through aggression," said UCR Extension Instructor Mark Cvikota. "A company may have an authoritarian management style. They may have a non-caring way of handling the employee. An employee may not have appropriate coping skills."

Cvikota teaches UCR Extension's one-day workshop, Preventing Workplace Violence, held from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008 at UCR Extension Center, 1200 University Ave., Riverside. In this class, students learn how to identify early warning signs of workplace violence; acquire skills to appropriately manage aggression in the workplace; resolve conflicts impartially and fairly; and learn to apply Cal-OSHA's "Guidelines for Workplace Security."
 
Cvikota, who is also the Senior Human Resource Analyst for the City of Moreno Valley, has years of experience training frontline supervisors, law enforcement, county and city officials, and human resources personnel in the basics of maintaining a workplace free from outright violence and its subtler forms of aggression, such as intimidation and sabotage.

For more information about the one-day workshop Preventing Workplace Violence or other related courses, call Kathy Craig at (951) 827-1600 or e-mail kcraig@ucx.ucr.edu.

To register for classes, visit www.extension.ucr.edu, or call (951) 827-4105, or dial toll-free at (800) 442-4990. To receive a free UCR Extension catalog, which includes a complete listing of all our current courses and certificate programs, call (951) 827-3806.

UCR Extension is the continuing education division of the University of California, Riverside. Extension offers more than 1,800 courses and 79 certificate programs in a variety of academic programs, including agriculture and landscape, arts and humanities, business and management, education, teacher's credentialing, English, environmental management, geospatial analysis and technology, health services and behavioral sciences, information technology, languages, law and public policy, Native American studies, natural sciences, forensic investigations and public safety, and yoga.