Anatomy of an Invitee Sourced Workplace Violence Incident

A recent LA Times headline blared, “Driver rampaged through Inglewood CarMax. Injured customers sue him and the dealership.”

The article covered a workplace violent incident where an angry customer of the dealership “plowed his car into” an auto dealership injuring 8 people, including one who was paralyzed. 

This tragic workplace violence incident involved what I call “invitee” violence because the person who commited the act of violence was there as a regular part of the organization’s business operation. 

Invitee workplace violence is the most common of the 4 source types for workplace violence. It’s workplace violence typically caused by a customer, client, patient (or their family members), vendors, suppliers, subcontractors, and students. 

The violence targeted the dealership’s employees and other customers too. Opening the door to 3rd party civil lawsuits against the organization, such as the one covered in the article, alleging that “the company and its employees failed to take reasonable steps to maintain safe conditions at the store.”

The man who engaged in this act of violence, may have had auto insurance, but the real target of this lawsuit is the organization with its “deeper pockets”.

And, 3rd party lawsuits, unlike worker’s compensation where there are limits to payouts, have no caps. 

In this piece, I’ll use this incident to help employers better prepare employees for a likely rise in invitee sourced workplace violence.

California requires employers to establish, implement, and maintain an effective workplace violence prevention plan. If you haven’t done so, my California employers workplace violence prevention checklist can help you get that process started right now. 

Employer Responsibility to Control Work Environment

Most employers think of workplace violence as being committed by an employee. That type of workplace violence is also the easiest source type to prevent. 

That’s because an employer has direct control over employees, and can use employment policies, and practices to prevent employee misconduct.

However, policies and internal disciplinary processes have no ability to prevent invitee workplace violence. That’s because an employer has no control over an invitee or his actions.

Despite this lack of control over an invitee, an employer still is responsible for providing a safe work environment for employees, and for 3rd parties, from invitee violence.

So how does an employer maintain a safe work environment despite having no control over an invitee’s conduct?

Preventing Invitee Workplace Violence Through Employee Training 

Preventing invitee workplace violence starts with regularly checking in with your employees. Especially in today’s climate where customers, patients, and clients may be experiencing higher levels of economic stress. 

Regularly check in with employees about any concerns they’re having regarding safety, and what if anything, including trainings, do they feel will help them to be safer.

Employees that work with invitees do so day in and day out. They know where their safety hazards lie. And they’re able to recognize when a new, or previously unidentified safety hazard arises.

Most safety hazards involving invitees are built into the work your employees do for those invitees. Analyzing the way your employees work with the invitees is the best way to find where the safety hazards exist.

Take working at the dealership.

The man who drove his car into the CarMax was there to sell, or possibly trade in, his car. Buying someone’s car is one of CarMax’s main services.

In order to stay in business, used car dealerships need to be able to buy a car from a customer at a low enough price that allows them to recondition the car and resell it at a significant profit, or to buy a lower valued verhicle at a low enough price to wholesale it for more money than it paid for the vehicle. 

On the other hand, sellers typically want to get the most money possible from selling their vehicle. And the dealership’s profit is not their concern. Further, many people feel a personal attachment to, and even a sense of personal identity from, their vehicle. 

So they don’t view their vehicle from a dollars and cents perspective.

So even during normal times there’s competing interests at play. Albeit forseeable ones. And emotions can factor in even during the best of times.

But, during times of increased levels of economic stress, such as is happening now, emotions definitely run higher.

And as emotions run higher, reactivity does too. Heightening tensions. And making even routine business functions feel more oppositional. 

None of this happens in a vacuum. Checking in with employees regularly allows you to recognize when and how conditions change, allowing you to identify new safety hazards.

Your employees will have the best vantage point on whether rising stress levels are increasing safety risks.

And California’s new workplace violence prevention law recognizes that work safety can change, so it requires employers to train employees in remediating newly identifified safety hazards.

Conflicting Reports of What Occurred

I interviewed approximately 12,000 witnesses during 30 years of conducting case preparation and 3rd party internal investigations. And witness observations can be impacted in different ways, so getting to the truth of what occurs during an incident is more about an amalgamation of information, than about what any one person reports.

The family suing the dealership claims that a dealership employee pushed the driver during an argument about the purchase price of his car, which then led to an altercation between the two, and then other dealership employees “rushed” towards the driver, causing him to become more agitated and volatile.

According to the dealership, it’s employees reported that everything was going along fine, that the driver did not complain about the appraisal, and even went out to look at the inventory, before suddenly turned erratic.

The truth may fall somewhere in between.

However, what’s clear is that an incident escalated quickly into violence, which should not, in my opinion have happened.

Training Employees in Strategies to Avoid Physical Harm

During times of greater reactivity, it’s critical that employers provide the needed tools to keep safe. These skillsets need to be practiced in order to be able to use them automatically. Here’s what to consider:

•  Communicating safety concerns. An attack by an invitee can occur quickly with little to no warning. So employees must be trained to recognize, as quickly as possible, when to request assistance, and how to do so. Employees should be taught how to do so both openly, and in a more subtle way. Options can range from verbally requesting assistance to using a codeword, or mechanical device like a wireless buzzer. Because of the speed in which an attack can happen, t’s better to err on the side of caution, and request help, even if it turns out to not be needed, versus waiting for as long as possible, which is likely too late for the assistance to arrive in time to help. And training should also be provided to those tasked with offering assistance too. As they’ll need to be able to do so without having to think through their roles and responsibilities. 
•  De-escalation based upon empathy. De-escalation is a misunderstood skill. It’s not verbal judo. It’s the ability to hear what someone says, and to let them know that you can see things from their perspective even if you disagree with them. It’s very important that employees be trained to not take things personally. Reactive people often say things in a very personal way. So it does take training to learn not to become reactive yourself when responding to a reactive person. It’s about learning to step back, and depersonalize things. Employees also need to be trained not to focus on right and wrong, but on getting an angry, reactive, person out of his own head.
•  No Free Raoming. Act as a guide. Letting an invitee, who’s reactive, roam around the location unattended was a mistake. And that’s as true for medical office, manufactuirng plant, or a professional service organization, as it is at an auto dealershiip. Having someone accompany a reactive person while he walks around allows for continued conversations, which helps to calm a person down. And it allows your employee to get an even better read on the situation. It’s a far better approach than having him walk around left to his own devices while feeling upset. Further, a person in motion is less likely to attack. And some people actually listen better and are more receptive to discussions when in motion. 
•  Situational awarenes. Recognizing a potential safety threat early enough on to be able to act to keep yourself safe, is the most important skill for your employees to learn. Doing so takes the risk of injury out of the picture. But, it’s not something most people know how to do without training. Employee training should focus on using their senses to detect a safety threat, and to develop an exit strategy or other way to avoid being trapped in a vulnerable place. In the case of the dealership, this would have involved keeping tabs on the invitee allowing them to be forwarned of any actions he might take. And it’s that second or two of early warning that allows your employees, to avoid being harmed.

These are just a few strategies to avoid physical harm that could have helped prevent this tragic incident of invitee violence from occurring. Employers should not simply assume that employees know how to take these actions on their own. 

Training your employees in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence is the most important, yet least understood, requirement in California’s workplace violence prevention law. I’ve put together a great training that demystifies this type of training so that you can determine the best strategies for your employees specific safety needs.