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A Hospital Employee at Kadlec Regional Medical Center came back to the hospital on his day off, threatening to kill other employees and himself. Other violent attacks on staff have also occurred recently including choking of a nurse in the ICU!

 

 

RISKAlert Report Updated: October 23, 2018                                                          Richland, Washington

A Hospital Employee at Kadlec Regional Medical Center came back to the hospital  on his day off, threatening to kill other employees and himself.  Other violent attacks n staff have also occurred recently including choking of a nurse in the ICU!

In a workplace violence incident on Oct. 18, 2018,  Kadlec employee Matt Ganz, 51, walked into the
hospital where he worked, on his day off and began talking to fellow co-workers about how he wanted to die by suicide and how he would kill others as well, said Lt. Chris Lee.

Several people called 911 to report seeing a man with a gun at the 270-bed hospital.  Richland police responded and were on the scene within a minute and a half. But Ganz was gone before Richland and Kennewick police along with deputies from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office finished searching the hospital.

Police continued to hunt for Ganz and officers finally found him about 40 minutes later on the 300 block of East Third Avenue drunk behind the wheel of his truck, police said.  He was booked into
the Benton County jail for making threats, for interfering with a health care facility and for driving
under the influence (DUI)

Kadlec Regional has experienced other incidents including multiple staff members who were hurt by patients, and it highlights the problem of workplace violence in healthcare. In one incident, a patient in the ER hurt 3 nurses, a doctor, and a security officer.  In another recent case, a patient in Intensive Care choked a  nurse, as she was trying to change his IV.

The nurse in question posted these remarks on Facebook, “Let me tell you, having a strong individual’s hands around your neck, the inability to breathe, let alone call for help, to the point where you can’t see a thing and can only hear an emergency “staff assist” tone going off, is one of the absolutely gut-wrenching, most terrifying feelings anyone could ever imagine. It didn’t help that it was preceded with the words “I’m gonna kill you.  Ashley Schade described in a Facebook post about the event that has now gone viral.

Both of those patients were charged with assault.

LESSONS LEARNED:

1.  Workplace Violence is still a major problem in healthcare, with most of the violent incidents
directed at nurses.  More needs to be done.

2.  Report every incident to management and increase staff  to avoid having nurses work alone.

THANKS FOR READING THE RISKAlert Report©

For more information and a free subscription:  write to:  caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com    We provide and certify the best Healthcare CMS All-Hazards Hospital & Healthcare  Facility Risk Assessments; Facilities Active Shooter Assessments,  Active Shooter Training and Tabletop Drills.



MAN AT SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE STABS HIS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER IN WORKPLACE VIOLENCE INCIDENT BEFORE BEING SHOT TO DEATH BY FEDERAL SECURITY OFFICER

RISKAlert Report Updated:  July 9, 2018                                                                                       McComb,  Mississippi

MAN AT SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE STABS HIS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER IN WORKPLACE
VIOLENCE  INCIDENT BEFORE  BEING SHOT TO DEATH BY FEDERAL SECURITY OFFICER

A 21-year-old Mississippi man, Branen Carter, went into the McComb, MS, Social Security Administration office with his mother and grandmother, and then he stabbed his mother and grandmother in the lobby before he was shot to death by a federal FPS (Federal Protective Service) security officer. 

The incident happened at 11 am, and the facility was put on lockdown after the incident.  Large numbers of law enforcement officers responded to the one-story brick building on the edge of McComb, which is about 100 miles south of Jackson.

Carter’s mother, Lee Anna Turnage, and grandmother, Ann Carter, were in stable condition at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, after what was reported as a family fight that turned violent.

Mississippi court records show Branen Carter was indicted in Marion County in December 2016, when he was 20, on two felony charges — one count of statutory rape and one count of sexual battery of a child between the ages of 14 and 16.  He pleaded guilty in May 2017 after the two felony charges were reduced to misdemeanors (WHY?), and he was given two six-month suspended sentences, which means he did not have to serve jail time. The attorney who represented him was out of the office Monday and could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Director of Communications for the Federal Protective Service, Robert Sperling, said that the FPS agency has a long history of using armed security guards at federal agencies it oversees. “It’s a cornerstone. We have officers in social security offices and most federal agencies across the country, such as the IRS,” Sperling said.

LESSONS LEARNED:

      1.  Workplace Violence can happen anywhere, and family disputes often spill over into
public workplaces.  This attack happened in the lobby of the federal agency.

  1. The FPS did an excellent job of countering the threat and probably saved the
    lives of both women.


THANKS FOR READING THE RISKAlert Report©

For more information and a free subscription:  write to:  caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com
We provide the best Active Shooter and Facility Risk Assessments & Training Programs.

Find out more at   www.riskandsecurityllc.com .

#Stabbing     #WorkplaceViolence



19-year old Teen Victim Sues Michigan Hospital After Being Punched in the Face in the Hospital’s Emergency Room

RISKAlert Report Updated:  April 10, 2018

A nineteen-year old woman is suing Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan after she was injured by another patient in the hospital’s emergency room. The entire attack was caught on hospital security video.

The video showed the woman, who was wearing a hijab head scarf, had just started talking to the staff at the ER desk, when, with 5 seconds, an older man came up behind her and started to repeatedly punch her in the head. The man who attacked her, 57-year-old John Deliz, had been dropped off at the hospital by police, after leaving a group home.

Police records show he was warned about harassing others in the hospital lobby before the attack occurred, according to The Detroit News.  Deliz admitted in court that that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia  and had not been taking his medications.

The hospital security staff immediately responded and restrained Deliz, who was subsequently arrested.

The lawsuit claims that “the hospital was aware of his condition as he was brought because he needed mental treatment. Instead of treating him, they discharged him into the ER waiting room,” her lawyer, Mr. Moughni told CBS. “Instead of giving him mental treatment, they put him back in the patient pool, thereby giving way to his attack.”
LESSONS LEARNED:

1.   Using the Emergency Room as a temporary holding area for behavioral health individuals
exposes the hospital to potential lawsuits and liability for any damage they might do.

2.   Behavioral health patients need to be isolated in a holding room and/or continuously supervised, and
not allowed to freely  circulate within the Emergency Room.

THANKS FOR READING THE RISKAlert Report©

For more information and more great content:  write to:  caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com
We provide the best Active Shooter and CMS Facility Risk Assessments, Drills & Training Programs
www.riskandsecurityllc.com   or   www.caroline-hamilton.com



Angry Iranian Female Shooter Shoots Three YouTube Staff Members in San Bruno, California Active Shooter Attack

RISKAlert Report Updated:  April 3, 2018

Nasim  Aghdam , a 39-year old YouTube user who was angry after access to her self-produced YouTube videos was reduced, drove 470 miles from Menifee in southern California to YouTube headquarters in northern California and shot three staff members with a handgun at the YouTube campus and then turned the gun on herself, inflicting a fatal injury.

Aghdam’s father, Ismail Aghdam said he had called the police, warning that she hated YouTube, and that he was afraid that she might be headed up to their headquarters after she went missing from her home.

She started shooting in a courtyard area and it appears she killed herself as law enforcement arrived on the scene.   She  was one of a handful of female shooters, and passionate about veganism and animal rights issues, and used her YouTube channel to spread her message.  She ranted online against the company’s new policies and accused them of censoring her videos and reducing their views.


She had complained on her website that “new close-minded youtube employees” had “filtered my channels” starting
in  2016, causing the number of views on her videos to drop. She posted a screenshot of her YouTube page showing that one video had received 366,591 views.

 

YouTube staff members were terrorized by the random shootings, and were searched before
being allowed to go to their cars and leave the offices.  It was the first major Workplace Violence
incident in a major Silicon Valley company and should encourage other companies to add more
security controls to their campuses.


LESSONS LEARNED
:

1.  A Workplace Violence Incident can happen anywhere and anytime!  Be Ready.

  1.  Lack of access controls (metal detectors) allowed a killer to enter the YouTube campus with a
    gun and shoot three staff members, injuring one critically.   Simple, inexpensive metal detectors
    could have eliminated this vulnerability.
  2.  Police did not respond quickly enough when they were called and alerted IN ADVANCE that the
    shooter might be heading to the YouTube campus.  She might have been apprehended on route
    during the six plus hour drive to San Bruno.


THANKS FOR READING THE RISKAlert Report
©

For more information and more great content:  write to:  caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com
We provide the best Active Shooter and CMS Facility Risk Assessments & Training Programs
 www.riskandsecurityllc.com   or   www.caroline-hamilton.com



Angry Florida Man Steals Hospital’s Ambulance and Drives Home After Waiting Two hours in the Hospital’s Emergency Department

RISKAlert Report Updated:  March 14, 2018

   Ambulance thief, Danny Lee Konieczny, 60,  was drunk and suicidal when First Responders picked him
up after a neighbor called 911.    He was transported to The Villages Regional Hospital, where
he waited two hours in the Emergency Department without seeing a doctor.

Frustrated and angry, he decided to steal the ambulance to drive the 5.7 miles to his home,
according to the arrest affidavit!  He walked outside and stole a Sumter EMS Ambulance, which was
owned by Rural/Metro and equipped with a GPS tracking device.  Rural/Metro personnel were able
to see the theft of the ambulance on a live feed and so deputies followed the GPS to Konieczny’s home.

The suspect had parked the ambulance in the neighbor’s     
driveway, and then hid in the trunk of his car,  where
officers found him and arrested him.   Konieczny is now
facing a felony charge of grand theft of a motor vehicle
following the arrest by Lake County Sheriff’s deputies.

   “He was upset because he was just put in the hallway
to wait and was not being seen at the hospital
,”
the
deputy wrote in the arrest report.  The ambulance was
recovered intact and returned to Rural/Metro.


LESSONS LEARNED:

  1. Ambulance theft is relatively common but easy to prevent. Experts recommend
    making sure to turn off the engine and lock all ambulance doors.
  2. There are keypad systems that can be installed to prevent someone from driving away in
    an ambulance, when the engine has been left running.

THANKS FOR READING THE RISKAlert Report©

For more information and more great content:  write to:  caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com

We provide the best Active Shooter and CMS Facility Risk Assessments,
Active Shooter and Security- Safety and Compliance  training.

 www.riskandsecurityllc.com   or   www.caroline-hamilton.com



HOSPITAL PATIENT WITH TWO KNIVES LEAVES TREATMENT ROOM ON THE 14TH FLOOR OF BARNES JEWISH HOSPITAL IN ST. LOUIS, AND WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY TWO SECURITY OFFICERS.

 

RISKAlert Report Updated:  Jan. 15, 2018

A 46-year old patient, identified as Andrew Merryman, was in a hospital treatment room with his wife on the 14th floor of the Center for Advanced Medicine at 10 a.m. Friday morning.

According to St. Louis Police Lt. Col. Rochelle D. Jones, Merryman pushed his way out of the om and pulled out two pocket knives, she said. As Merryman came down the hall, Jones called security and two officers responded.    Two officers arrived and ordered Merryman to drop the knives. He refused, so both officers fired their guns, killing him. He died at the scene.

Police commented that Mr. Merryman was suicidal and had been treated for depression. Lt. Col. Jones said the guards were being questioned by police as part of the investigation.

Kara Price Shannon, a spokeswoman for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, said police are handling the investigation and directed all questions to them.  “There is no threat to the public or our patients,” she told the Post-Dispatch shortly after the shooting.

 

LESSONS LEARNED:

  1.  All incoming patients in emotional distress, should be wanded with a metal detector as
    a condition of treatment.  Weapons can be returned as the patient leaves the hospital.

2.  A recent study by Johns Hopkins, discovered that most hospital shootings take
place in the Emergency Room (29%), and only 19% in a patient room.

 

THANKS FOR READING THE RISKAlert Report

For more information and more great content:
www.riskandsecurityllc.com or www.caroline-hamilton.com

#activeshooterhospital #hospitalsecurity #patientshot



RISKAlert Case Study #841 – Physician Shot & Killed in Metairie

Dateline:  March 25, 2016 – New Orleans, Louisiana

A local Doctor was shot and killed by a patient while he treated others in his office near East Jefferson General Hospital in New Orleans yesterday.

The 73-year old shooter walked into the doctor’s office, and killed the doctor with a single shot to the head.  He then ran out of the office and into a Wendy’s restaurant.  Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were nearby and they responded and chased the shooter into a nearby Wendy’s restaurant, where the shooter killed himself by putting the gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.

The doctor, 75-year old Dr. Elbert Goodier, a urologist,  was treating patients at the time of the shooting.  Colleagues said that Dr. Goodier was a very kind and popular physician.  The shooter’s family said that the shooter had been treated by Dr. Goodier in the past.  While the shooter did not have a criminal background, his family said that he had suffered from mental illness in the past.

Dr. Goodier had practiced for 50 years in the New Orleans area, according to East Jefferson General Hospital.

According to Wendy’s employees, a woman was placing her order when
the shooter pulled the triggeWendysShooter-NOLAr as the deputies advanced on him.   The man’s body remained inside of Wendy’s more than an hour after the shootings. Yellow police tape cordoned off the parking lot and the hospital’s exit lanes. Some workers and patrons were also still in the building as of 4 p.m., speaking with
investigators. Outside, other workers, concerned relatives and onlookers watched.

This type of shooting, the Baby Boomer Shooter, is the second attack on a urologist, and one in an increasing number of seniors who attack their physicians.  Another shooter killed his urologist in Reno, Nevada and injured two others before taking his own life. The shooter said had struggled for 3 years with ailments resulting from a botched vasectomy, according to messages he posted on an online support group and a law enforcement investigation.


Lesson Learned
:

While doctors have not been a target in the past, they have been shot and killed recently by patients unhappy with medical results.  All hospitals and medical offices should review their access controls systems, based on the increasing, and alarming rate of attacks on healthcare workers.

                    Stay Alert and make sure to subscribe to RISKAlerts
Sign Up at: caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com



RISKAlert Report # 840, Man Shoots Neighbor, Takes Body to His Lawyer

Dateline:  February 17, 2016

A Florida Man Shot his Neighbor to Death, Put the Body in the Back of his Pickup Truck
and Drove Dead Body to his Lawyer’s Office

A Fort Myers, Florida man shot his neighbor to death during a struggle before loading the body into the back of his pickup truck and driving it to a lawyer’s office, according to the News Press of Fort Myers, Marshall claimed he shot the neighbor in self defense.

Lawyer Robert Harris, said that John Marshall (the shooter), walked into his Fort Myers law firm claiming he had shot and killed neighbor Ted Hubbell in self-defense and had the body outside in the bed of his pickup.

The shocked attorneys called 911 and Marshall spent hours at Harris’ office before finally leaving
for the hospital around 10:30 p.m. that night.  Marshall had a swollen lip, missing tooth and what
appeared to be two broken thumbs.

According to attorney Robert Harris, JohDeath Investigationn
Marshall wrestled a gun away from neighbor
Hubbell and fatally shot him earlier Wednesday.
Harris said late Wednesday that Marshall will
not be arrested, because he shot in self defense.

Lessons Learned:

1.   Avoid fights with neighbors.

2.   If a fight seems unavoidable, call 911 and wait for police in a safe area.

3.   Do not transport a body to your lawyers office in the bed of your
pick up truck!

 

RISKAlert® is a publication of Risk & Security LLC
To subscribe to RISKAlerts® – write to:  info@riskandsecurityllc.com



62-Year Old Bumblebee Tuna Worker Killed in Oven with Six Tons of Canned Tuna

RISK Alert   Report #710 –  May 27, 2015

The Los Angeles District Attorney announced felony charges Monday against
Bumblebee Tuna’s San Diego Plant, alleging that a worker, Jose Melena,
entered a thirty-five foot cylindrical oven that sterilizes cans of tuna.  Melena’s
co-workers closed the door and started the oven.  The oven temperature rose to
270 degrees in the next two hours, and when the doors were opened, they found
the severely burned remains of Jose Melena.

According to District Attorney Jackie Lacey, “We take worker safety very seriously”,
according to a published statement. “Our goal is to enhance the criminal of workplace
safety violations. Although the Bumble Bee investigation began in 2012, this case
represents our commitment to protecting workers from illegal – and, potentially,
deadly – on-the-job practices.”

Bumblebee

 

 

 

 

 

Two plant employees, former Safety Manager Saul Florez, 42, of Whittier,
California, and the current Director of Plant Operations Angel Rodriguez, 63, of
Riverside, California,  with three felony counts each of an Cal-OSHA (State of
California ) violation causing death.

Both men face arraignment on May 27 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center in
downtown Los Angeles.  If convicted, the individuals could serve three years in
state prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Bumble Bee faces a maximum fine
of $1.5 million.

Lessons Learned

1.   Strong safety controls should be put in place to protect workers in High Risk
Occupations.

2.   Employees should make sure that all employees are aware of the
company’s safety and security rules to prevent incidents like this.

 

RISKAlert® is a publication of Risk & Security LLC

To subscribe to RISKAlerts® – write to:  info@riskandsecurityllc.com

www.riskandsecurityllc.com

www.caroline-hamilton.com

 



DOD moves military bases to a higher alert status

In an unusual move today, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) raised the security level at
U.S. military bases because of the increasing concerns about possible attacks by ISIS (ISIL).

While the DOD cited no specific threat, they did refer to the recent attack in Garland, Texas,
(last Tuesday), after ISIS claimed responsibility for the Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest
featuring cartoons about “the Prophet”.

The threat level was raised to ‘Bravo’ level, and it’s worth noting that it’s the first time the
threat level has been that high since the anniversary of the 911 attacks on September 11,
2011
,
which was the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.

A higher threat level could mean 100% ID checks at the entrance to all military bases, including
air force bases, army bases, navy and marine bases.   It also puts base military police on alert
to be highly situationally aware, including investigating anything they see that might be
terms “suspicious”.  The FBI will also increase surveillance of suspected pro-ISIS individuals.

Persistent stories have been focusing on the Texas border, which may be harboring an
ISIS camp, and the right wing media has reported that an ISIS camp may be sending their
soldiers into the US on specific missions.  Although this has been widely discredited by
officials,  some circles are reporting a link to the Army’s Operation Jade Helm, a massive
military drill across nine states, which is slated for July 15th, to September 15th, 2015.

We encourage individuals to be situationally alert AT ALL TIMES, and a increase
in military alert levels would certainly be something to note.

 

 

 




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