It is fair to say that no one in the Pittsburgh area has forgotten the shooting that took place at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, in March of last year. During that incident, a man, who was deemed to be a schizophrenic, shot several individuals, wounding five and killing one.

As is common after injuries are suffered in a work place, an investigation has been conducted into the measures that had been taken to keep employees safe. In this case, to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration hired an expert on workplace violence to look into the matter.

The report, submitted to OSHA this past summer, was only recently made available to the public. It revealed that while security was in fact at the forefront at the facility, it was the safety of its patients that was emphasized, not its employees. It is not clear how much emphasis OSHA placed on the findings of the expert as no citations were levied against UPMC the following month. At that time OSHA did provide suggestions as to how the facility could work to prevent workplace violence.

The expert explained that she was instructed to focus on everyday violence in the workplace rather than only the tragic incident. As a part of the investigation she looked at paperwork that had been submitted to OSHA regarding incidences of illness and injury at the facility. What she uncovered was an alarming trend. The number of reported incidents was on the rise from 2010 to 2011 and appeared to be poised to surpass 2011's numbers in 2012.

Most would agree that it is important that they feel safe at their places of employment. It is likely that employees of institutions such as this one fall into this group. Accordingly it is important that all employers take steps to meet the safety expectations of their workers.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Report: Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic employees still not protected," Jonathan D. Silver, Jan. 2, 2012