by Nick Fishman

We just learned of an unfortunate workplace violence story out of Henderson, Kentucky.  An employee of Atlantis Plastics went on a shooting rampage and killed 6 fellow employees before turning the weapon on himself after an argument with his supervisor.  This is obviously a horrible tragedy.

Coincidentally, I just met with Barry Nixon, Executive Director of the National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence and we were just talking about the fact that the number of incidents of workplace murders has been on the increase in the last year after declining significantly throughout the last 10 years.  Barry pointed to the increase in background checks as one reason the number had been declining.

Click on the link below for the full story:

Deadly Workplace Shooting a ‘Total Shock’

by Jason Morris

This topic created a big buzz at last months NAPBS (National Association of Professional Background Screeners) Conference.  It was rumored that Marsh & MacLennon could not fit the Kroll group into its portfolio of companies.  This latest moves solidifies this rumor. It appears that the core “employment screening” aspect of Kroll will remain with Marsh, but other areas will be sold off.

Marsh & MacLennon CEO: Will Sell Parts of Kroll Unit

Weeks after reportedly rebuffing a bid for its Kroll unit, Marsh & MacLennan Cos. (MMC) said it will sell parts of the business.

Insurance broker Marsh & MacLennan bought corporate security and investigations firm Kroll in 2004, but never successfully integrated it into the larger business, said Brian Duperreault, Marsh & MacLennan’s chief executive during the company’s first-quarter earnings call Wednesday.

During the quarter, the company undertook a restructuring of Kroll, to separate the businesses it expects to keep from those it will seek to sell.

Duperreault said that he considers Kroll’s employment-screening, business- intelligence and investigations operations “core Kroll,” and intends to incorporate those more closely into Marsh and MacLennan.

Kroll’s corporate restructuring group should also perform well in the current economic downturn, Duperreault said.

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