"worker of the company was injured after catching the thieves ...."

Workplace violence can come from inside the factory gates. As well as outside the factory gates. That is why ideally a workplace would like to prevent outsiders from entering company property. Here is a recent incident that highlights the hazard.

The (local and provincial police) is investigating three men for allegedly committing robberies with force in an aluminum company in the municipality of (location name omitted). They are three residents of (nearby town) aged 43, 38 and 35 and, according to the Civil Guard, the episodes with this company would not be their first crimes committed in the area.

The police investigation began at the end of last February after the workers of the (location name omitted) company had detected the access to the premises of a white van labeled with the name of a vehicle rental company. As reported by the employees, its occupants got out of the vehicle and stole a large coil of copper cable, a material valued at about 5,000 euros.

The second incident took place in mid-March, when the same van re-entered the facilities of the Valguese company. On this occasion, as reported by the Guardia Civil, it was occupied by three people. Their objective, they explain, was to "load the vehicle with metal material that they had located inside the company. "One employee ended up with minor injuries to his arm and hand.

The thieves were intercepted by one of the company's employees with a freight elevator, with which he tried to block the exit of the van. Once the three individuals were cornered, they began to rebuke, threaten to kill and beat the man with wooden blocks, who ended up with minor injuries to his arm and hand. After this episode of violence, the three individuals left the premises in the van, leaving behind the material they had tried to take.

These events were reported by the company's management to the Civil Guard, which activated a device to locate the van, in which members of the (location name omitted) barracks, as well as the towns (from three nearby communities), participated.

Upon detecting the tracking by the agents, the suspects left the vehicle in a wooded area of (location name omitted), which was located and delivered to its owner. The agents, after various procedures, managed to identify and investigate these three people for a crime of theft and a crime of attempted robbery with violence.

 An extensive criminal record.

The three residents of (town name omitted) who are being investigated for the two episodes of robberies committed in the (location omitted) company have an extensive criminal history. According to the Guardia Civil, he is accused of various acts related to the theft of metal elements from other aluminum extrusion companies in the area, crimes that he has been committing for the last three years. The proceedings have been sent to the Court of Instruction of (nearby city).

We pray that the injured worker recovers fully from his injuries. He is very lucky. His assailants could have killed him.

All workplaces need to have training on workplace violence. In this case workers need to be instructed how to react when they find outsider(s) in their workplace. First and foremost is to protect themselves and to notify the proper authorities immediately.

Light Metal Age magazine had an article on workplace violence. It can be found here: