About Mike Corwin

My journey to workplace violence prevention consulting and training started with understanding that violence leaves lasting scars on people, and organizations. And there is no way to put that genie back in the bottle once it happens. I've seen far too many incidents of violence, especially in the workplace that simply did not have to happen, if prevention had been a focus.

When I was 8, I was robbed of the Unicef money I was raising while trick or treating door to door on Halloween in my own neighborhood. A few years later, my dad's sister, was victimized by one of America's most notorious violent criminals of that era. The damage that violence causes was personalized for me when my father, who had served in the infantry as a young man, but was a truly gentle soul, said out loud that he wanted 5 minutes alone with the guy. 

Decades later, I began working as a litigation investigator. Developing facts for civil plaintiff and criminal defense attorneys. Because of my own history of seeing the impact violence has on victims and those closest to them, I was assigned by the criminal defense attorneys I worked with, who represented the people charged with those crimes, to interview the family members of victims.

Truly gut wrenching experiences. But conducting those interviews really reinforced that when it comes to the harm that violence, including workplace violence, causes to people, there is no "pound of cure". You just can't unring that bell once violence happens. Thus, the absolute best thing you can do when it comes to workplace violence, is to prevent violence from occurring in the first place. 

30 YEARS OF LEARNING ABOUT VIOLENCE, ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 

In conducting these investigations, I regularly got a close up view of man's inhumanity to man. Literally, the worst that people can do to each other. And that wasn't just the criminal cases.

I helped build many civil cases against organizations when employees, customers, patients, and clients were injured by violence at their location including homicides, assaults, sexual assaults, and other significant acts of violence.

My investigations uncovered what employers did wrong that led to the violence. And taught me how employers can prevent workplace violence. 

I examined hiring practices and found people hired despite abusive and violent behavior.

I also assessed safety hazards caused by the interior and exterior physical layout, lighting, obstructions, ingress, egress, and parking areas. 

In the 30 plus years that I conducted investigations for attorneys, I had the opportunity to help thousands of people, after the fact, going through difficult situations, and worked along side of some top attorneys.

Helping people is simply a part of who I am. 

TO BE EFFECTIVE I HAD TO KEEP SAFE FROM VIOLENCE WHILE WORKING IN DANGEROUS ENVIRONMENTS

A significant part of my work involved conducting witness interviews (I've done approximately 12,000 of them). And often that meant showing up at a total stranger's door, which I did 1000s of times over the years, and then convincing them to speak with me about something difficult, and often tragic, that this person witnessed.

I worked in some of the roughest areas in Los Angeles, and later in New Mexico. and that meant learning how to keep myself safe so that I could develop the information I needed in order to be able to help people.

Implementing situational awareness saved me when a homeless man confronted me with a shank. 

Because I saw the shank reflect light, I knew BEFORE the threat was upon me, that I had to act quickly in order to be safe.

I learned to de-escalate tense situations while serving court papers like restraining orders, witness subpoenas, and even lawsuits.

In 1996, I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and opened an investigation practice there. 

I continued to focus on civil plaintiff investigations including many involving premises liability, and workplace violence.

INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS FOR EMPLOYERS

I spent several years conducting contract internal 3rd party fact-finding investigations for the City of Albuquerque regarding abusive behavior including workplace violence.

And several years conducting internal fact-finding investigations regarding allegations of misconduct by judges for the New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission. 

As a result of my investigation knowledge I was often asked by attorneys to evaluate investigations conducted by employers to assess whether those investigations were conducted adequately and sufficiently to address the alleged conduct in question.

PRE-EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS LOOKING FOR A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AND ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR

I also did the pre-employment background checks for a smaller town to help ensure that those hired would not become a threat to co-workers, and the town's citizens.