Hands are on the front lines of physical labor, so they’re regularly in harm’s way. And coating professionals can’t do their jobs without healthy hands. Keeping hands safe needs to be a top priority.

Workplace violence can happen, but what are the potential short- and long-term financial impacts?

At a recent workshop with about 250 attendees representing approximately 190 organizations, I performed an informal survey. I asked for a show of hands from those whose workplace had a written anti-bullying policy. Less than half of those in attendance raised their hands. I did the same for a workplace anti-violence policy. The response was better than half but still less than two-thirds.

When workplace violence takes place, it’s often at the confluence of multiple factors that have created a perfect storm. One of the most important common denominators in violent workplace incidents is an abusive supervisory style.