LAKE FOREST, Calif. – December 27, 2012 – The National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc. announced in the release of their December edition of The Workplace Violence Prevention eReport that in the midst of the sorrow, grief and horror of the Sandy Hook tragedy it is establishing “Stop School Violence Week.” The goal of establishing this week is to commemorate the victims, ensure that no one forgets this tragic occurrence and, most importantly, to stir the nation to sustained and meaningful action to end the scourge of violence in U.S. schools.
W. Barry Nixon, Founder and Executive Director of the National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc. stated, “I believe the time to act is now and that we cannot wait for another child to die as a result of violence in schools. As a nation, we have the knowledge and the capability to take serious steps to eradicate this problem. However, we must have the courage to act. Our leaders must take a stance and the public must stand with them to ensure that self-interest and distractors with their own agenda do not stand in the way. We applaud the president’s effort to establish an action Task Force to identify immediate actions that can be taken, and we want to do our part to support this effort.”
Several years ago, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) convened a national conference on workplace violence. They invited the top minds in the field and leading experts on workplace violence to come together for a national dialogue about how to prevent workplace violence and to establish a framework for research and actions. Mr. Nixon calls upon NIOSH to once again take a leadership role and convene the best minds and experts on school violence to help build a national agenda to address this growing problem. “We need to stand together to address this issue for the common good of our children, who are the nation’s future.”
“We call upon every organization involved in workplace safety and security to contribute to this dialogue and to join us in making ‘Stop School Violence Week’ a nationally recognized time to reflect on the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook and to continue to focus on taking action to move forward with meaningful steps toward ending school violence. The words of the popular song, ‘Wake Up Everybody’ says it well: The world will not get better unless we change it; its up to you and me.”
The National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc. stands ready to help move this agenda forward to stop school violence.
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The National Institute for the Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc. is a professional consulting firm providing training, consulting, publications and services to assist public and private organizations to create violence-free workplaces, establish programs that prevent workplace violence and crisis response plans to address incidents should one occur. The organization publishes, The Workplace Violence Prevention eReport, the Workplace Violence Fact Sheet (2013 edition just released) and runs the award winning web site, www.workplaceviolence911.com.
W. Barry Nixon is a recognized worldwide expert on workplace violence. He served on the Workplace Violence Task Force that created the Workplace Violence Guidelines for the prestigious association, ASIS International, which is the largest security association for security professionals in the world and also served on the Joint Task Force between ASIS International and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) which created the first standard on workplace violence prevention. Mr. Nixon is also an active member of the Crisis Management and Business Continuity Council of ASIS International. In addition, in 2009 he was named one of the most influential people in security by Security Magazine and in 2010 was named to the prestigious Employee Health, Safety and Security Special Expertise Panel by the Society for Human Resource Management.