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An interactive workshop will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday addressing how to deal with violence in the workplace.

The workshop, which will be held at the Center of Craig and costs $3 per person, will teach employers and managers to reduce liability and increase workplace safety by:

• recognizing and assessing risk
• preventing threats from escalating
• devising a response plan when threats affect the workplace
• using local resources to respond to threats

"There is more of a need in the private sector," said Moffat County Sheriff Buddy Grinstead. "They need to know what steps they can take (to address workplace violence)."

Michael Lindsey, the speaker for the workshop, is a national expert on stalking and works for the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Participants are encouraged to bring their business violence policies and will be given information about recent workplace violence laws, threat assessment tools and local resources at the workshop, which is presented by Colorado Northwestern Community College, Craig Downtown Business Association, Grinstead and Colorado Bar Association.

"We are a small enough community that cases of domestic violence and restraining orders are known about," Grinstead said. "What we need to address is how do you prepare yourself, what do you do."

Workshop costs are underwritten by a grant to the Family Violence Program of the Colorado Bar Association by the Colorado Attorney General's office.

The threat management workshop was brought about because of an anti-trust suit brought by the attorney general of Colorado against shoe company NineWest. With an award of $456,000, the office approached, the Colorado Bar Association about branching its family violence program, which already was developing a program dealing with domestic abuse spilling into the workplace.

"(The attorney general) wanted to deal with domestic abuse spilling over into the workplace," said Connie Platt, coordinator of the workshops. "The cost to businesses is amazing in terms of employee absence and employee turnover."

According to Platt, there have been several homicides in the workplace in Colorado this last year. An example of this was last fall when a man walked into a workplace in downtown Colorado Springs and murdered his estranged fiancee and then killed himself.

"This is just one example," Platt said. "There were people there doing business and working -- it was very traumatizing."

The workshop is geared toward helping employers realize when there is a threat and to form a response that protects the employees, the employers and the people who do business with that workplace, Platt said.

"This is another step that might help them (local businesses) as far as protocol," Grinstead said.

Liz King is an intern with the Craig Daily Press. She can be reached at 824-7031 or eking@craigdailypress.com.