In a recent speaking engagement, Jerry Blanchard, President and CEO, discussed the impact of return to work. What do employees expect when they return? How has working from home changed the culture of your business? Does this change your vision? How has this changed the company’s critical assets?
While we can’t reproduce the entire presentation here, we wanted to provide you with some of the data sources used in the presentation. We hope you find them as helpful as we did.
Summary of the Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland
“Pandemic-related stressors have contributed to increased societal strains and tensions, driving several plots by DVEs, and they may contribute to more violence this and next year. If a new COVID-19 variant emerges and new public health restrictions are imposed as a result, anti-government violent extremists could potentially use the new restrictions as a rationale to target government or public health officials or facilities.”
Four Reasons In-Flight Airline Incidents Are Increasing
“Through May, about 2,500 such incidents have been recorded, and those categorized as “unruly” reached 394, compared with well under 200 for each full year of 2019 and 2020.”
Dread at 30,000 feet: Inside the increasingly violent world of US flight attendants
“Covid-19 seems to have exacerbated an already existing issue to an unprecedented degree, at least in the US.”
Nursing Workplace Violence
“A 2021 Workplace Health & Safety survey of registered nurses reports that 44% experienced physical violence at least once during the pandemic from patients, family members, or visitors. Over two thirds encountered verbal abuse at least once. RNs who provided direct care for patients with COVID-19 experienced more violence than nurses who did not care for these patients.”
COVID-19 Isolation Linked to Increased Domestic Violence, Researchers Suggest
“While COVID-19-related lockdowns may have decreased the spread of a deadly virus, they appear to have created an ideal environment for increased domestic violence. Extra stress in the COVID-19 pandemic caused by income loss, and lack of ability to pay for housing and food has exacerbated the often silent epidemic of intimate partner violence.”
Elsevier Public Health Emergency Collection – An increasing risk of family violence during the Covid-19 pandemic: Strengthening community collaborations to save lives
“In the United States, agencies from across the country are also reporting an increase in domestic violence. In addition to risk of physical harm, victims are also at great risk of emotional harm and abuse. U.S. reports have surfaced of domestic violence perpetrators using Covid-19 as a weapon against their victims, forbidding handwashing in an attempt to increase the victim’s fear of contracting the virus and threatening to forbid medical treatment if the victim does contract the virus.”
Why the Increase in Domestic Violence During COVID-19?
“Among all of the horrors that COVID-19 has wrought, domestic violence is a growing scourge that lurks in the shadows. Indeed, a stark uptick in reports of domestic violence and abuse (more commonly referred to in clinical settings as “intimate partner violence” or “IPV”) has recently received national (and even global) attention. New estimates from the United Nations Population Fund suggest that three months of quarantine will result in a 20 percent rise in IPV throughout the world. In total, the report predicts at least 15 million additional cases of IPV will occur as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns.”
Read more about how COVID affects workplace security here.