Approximately 84,000 sexual assaults and rapes occur in 51 000 in the workplace each year, and I think with many other experts that these numbers are actually much higher. In the wake of rape and sexual assault allegations at Penn State, we have all been inundated with interview, surprise and disgust of the situation.
For many people, this causes a deep emotional pain that they have long since buried. I recently had lunch with a trainer friend / nurse / life who has worked with a man in his late 50s. By all accounts he is a very successful semi-retired businessman who is married. Since the scandal broke Penn State, he had intense feelings of being restless and unable to control his anger. When he began to talk through his feelings, he shared that he too had been raped at a very young age. When his parents reported the rape to school, they were all told that the perpetrator was a respected teacher and coach, and he would speak of a person against another. Without witnesses, they would not investigate or report it. It was just easier to sweep under the carpet to show that justice for children ... Does this sound familiar?
How many times a day is necessary to occur in schools, organizations and businesses around the world before people are willing to speak out against such atrocities? How and when, as a society, wrapped in our "Legends" and "authorities" that we allow this behavior to occur? We must always take the side of the child, the employee or the victim rather than protect authors who ruin lives.
Yes, we have a legal obligation to report such behavior and we have a moral obligation. Many times these situations are swept under the carpet under the guise of protecting the image of the company, the executive of the organization or school legend. The reputation of a Penn State has done? A big! As the story continues, we will continue to see people who tried to report suspicions or what they saw and we will continue to learn about the people who tried to cover it up. As with any act of violence at work, the story is always much deeper than it seems at first - the layers of the onion peeling for months or even years.
Are you ready to defend the children in your life, your co-workers and anyone who denounces this type of assault, harassment, sexual assault or rape?
What systems do you put in your business, organization or school to manage this type of workplace violence? Do your managers and supervisors know what to do when something like this comes to light? And it is the culture of your company, that would have the moral standards to immediately handle this type of situation?
There are three things that your company can do now to keep people safe:
1. Each organization must assess what the risk factors affecting their employees. Do women who work alone at night by themselves? Are they well lit parking or security guards to escort employees to their cars after dark? Do you have jobs that put their employees at a higher risk? Vulnerable adults you using? And if the answer is yes, what you can do to ensure their safety?
2. What intervention strategies are currently in place? Is it time to develop or adopt new strategies for intervention?
3. Do you have an information system in place? If you work in an organization with the children, do you have an open door policy with the children and parents when they feel that something is wrong or discourage this type of interaction?
Negative impact of tragedies as a scandal Penn State is still robust. As someone who is dedicated to the pursuit of life, safety and violence-free world, it is my sincere hope that all organizations will have more to look at their openings to protect the people - which manages Gambit, a young high-risk part a charity, women working in male-dominated workplace, so that a high-level executives perceive domestic violence. This is sad that the trigger has to wake up all the organizations and take them deeper into the past to discover the scenarios that could have been ignored or inadequately maintained.
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