“What Your Employees Don’t Say Can Hurt You.”
I’ve spent decades investigating workplace violence — thousands of cases, threats, and incidents that ended in tragedy.
And there’s one sentence I hear in almost every single case: “I knew something was wrong… I just didn’t say anything.”
Employees hesitate to report because:
- “He’s my friend.”
- “I don’t want her fired.”
- “What if I’m wrong?”
- “I don’t want him coming after me.”
- “It wasn’t my place.”
But here’s the harsh truth:
After the incident, you can’t change anything.
Before the incident, you can change everything.
A Case I Will Never Forget
A client once received an anonymous survey response from an employee threatening to hunt down and kill management, even describing placing an explosive ordnance device.
That phrase stopped me immediately: “explosive ordnance device.”
That’s military language.
We traced the location. Identified an employee with military EOD experience. Law enforcement interviewed him.
He denied it — but officers believed he was the one.
Shortly after that conversation, he died by suicide.
And then came the part that still sticks with me…
When I asked his manager if he had noticed anything concerning, he replied: “Well… now that you bring it up…”
He described the employee rocking back and forth in the locker room, then suddenly jumping up and screaming: “You don’t want to push me! Get the F away from me! You don’t want to push my buttons!”
He didn’t report it. He didn’t tell HR. He didn’t tell leadership.
He also admitted he had heard rumors that the employee was addicted to crystal meth.
Again, he didn’t report it.
His exact words: “It was just a rumor.”
That’s the mindset we must change.
It is not an employee’s job to determine whether a threat is real.
It is their job to report it, so trained professionals can determine the truth.
“Routine Kills.”
In law enforcement, we say: “Routine kills.”
When you see the same thing over and over, and nothing bad happens, you become lax.
There is a story about a police officer who responded to the same faulty alarm dozens of times. At first, he approached tactically.
By the 30th time?
He walked up with his hands in his pockets and pressed his face against the window. He turned around… and a suspect with a gun was behind him.
Routine made him vulnerable.
It does the same thing in corporate America.
We ignore repeated behaviors. We minimize comments because “nothing happened last time.” We normalize red flags.
And that is exactly how incidents happen.
The Hard Truth Every Company Must Accept
I tell every organization this:
Every company that had an active shooter incident… had NEVER had an active shooter incident before the day it happened.
They were just like you. Until they weren’t.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Every year in Corporate America:
- 2 million+ workplace violence incidents
- 400+ workplace violence deaths
Most are preventable. But every single number represents a life.
Reporting Saves Lives
Do you have a policy requiring employees to report threatening behavior?
Do you train them on what to report and how to report it?
When employees report, you gain:
- Time
- Visibility
- The ability to intervene
- A chance to stop something before it starts
When they stay silent? You’re relying on luck.
And luck is not a workplace violence prevention strategy.