Why Hawaii's Business Community Ignores the Workplace Violence Crisis Until It's Too Late
- CrisisWire
- 4 days ago
- 11 min read
By Warren Pulley, CrisisWire Threat Assessment Expert
A terminated employee at a Maui agricultural cooperative makes threats against management. A workplace dispute at an Oahu construction firm escalates to violence. A small business owner receives concerning communications from a former partner.
Hawaii's business community lacks systematic workplace violence prevention capability.
Across Hawaii's 50+ chambers of commerce, trade associations, and industry groups—from the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii serving statewide businesses to specialized organizations like the Hawaii Restaurant Association and Building Industry Association of Hawaii—business owners and trade groups operate without the threat assessment frameworks that prevent workplace violence, protect employees, and shield organizations from catastrophic liability.
After 40 years preventing violence across military operations, LAPD patrol zones, Baghdad Embassy Protection, and implementing security programs validated by ABC7 Los Angeles and NPR, I've watched small and medium businesses make fatal assumptions: "It won't happen here." "We're too small for that." "Our employees are like family."
Then it happens. And the business never recovers.
Here's why Hawaii businesses face critical workplace violence risk—and what chambers and trade associations must do to protect their members.
The Workplace Violence Crisis Business Owners Ignore
Secret Service research proves that workplace violence is almost always preceded by observable warning signs. Terminated employees who return with weapons didn't "snap"—they exhibited concerning behaviors for weeks or months that employers either missed or dismissed.
The comprehensive frameworks in The Prepared Leader: Threat Assessment, Emergency Planning, and Safety demonstrate that workplace violence follows predictable pathways—pathways that systematic threat assessment interrupts.
Yet members of organizations from the Small Business Development Center Hawaii to the Hawaii Business League to the General Contractors Association of Hawaii lack training on recognizing warning signs, conducting threat assessments, and implementing prevention protocols.
This isn't a corporate problem—it's a small business crisis that Hawaii's business community pretends doesn't exist.
Agriculture: Where Workplace Tensions Run Highest
Hawaii's agricultural sector faces unique workplace violence risk factors: seasonal employment, labor disputes, immigration-related stress, economic pressure from land costs, and physically demanding work creating injury conflicts.
Coffee Industry Organizations
The Hawaii Coffee Association, Kona Coffee Farmers Association, Ka'u Coffee Growers Cooperative, Maui Coffee Association, and United Ka'u Farmers Cooperative serve operations where seasonal harvest pressure, pricing disputes, and small-business economic stress create workplace violence risk.
Coffee farm disputes over wages, working conditions, or terminations can escalate when combined with isolated rural locations where law enforcement response takes extended time.
Specialized Crop Associations
The Hawaii Avocado Association, Kona Cacao Association, Hawaii Chocolate and Cacao Association, and Association for Hawaiian Awa represent niche agricultural operations often run as family businesses—creating interpersonal dynamics that complicate threat assessment when family and employment relationships overlap.
GoFarm Hawaii, Hawaii Agricultural Foundation, and the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council provide resources to farmers who may lack HR infrastructure for systematic workplace violence prevention.
Farm Bureaus and Cooperatives
Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation - Oahu, Kauai County Farm Bureau, Maui County Farm Bureau, Hamakua Agricultural Cooperative, and Molokai Homestead Farmers Alliance serve operations where owner-operators work alongside employees—blurring professional boundaries that complicate threat management.
Hawaii Farmers Union United represents agricultural workers whose employment disputes sometimes escalate when combined with economic stress and geographic isolation.
My research on workplace violence prevention demonstrates that agricultural operations face elevated risk yet receive minimal attention in workplace safety discussions.
Aquaculture and Specialized Agriculture
Hawaii Aquaculture and Aquaponics Association, Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, and Hawaii Ulu Producers Cooperative represent industries combining agricultural challenges with specialized technical knowledge—creating unique workplace dynamics.
Beekeeping Organizations
Big Island Beekeepers Association, Hawaii Beekeepers' Association, and Kauai Beekeepers Association serve operations where isolated work sites, valuable inventory, and land access disputes create conflict.
Floriculture and Nursery Industry
Big Island Association of Nurserymen, Hawaii Export Nursery Association, Hawaii Floriculture & Nursery Association, Hawaii Tropical Flower Council, Hawaii Tropical Flowers & Foliage Association - Kauai, and Orchid Growers of Hawaii represent high-value agricultural products creating theft concerns and workplace disputes over inventory.
When ABC7 Los Angeles featured my security expertise, the focus was comprehensive risk assessment—agricultural businesses need behavioral threat assessment adapted to their unique operational environments.
Construction and Trades: High-Risk, Low-Prevention
Construction and trades face statistically elevated workplace violence risk: transient workforce, subcontractor disputes, physically demanding work, economic pressure from project delays, and male-dominated environments where conflict escalates physically.
Building Industry Association of Hawaii and General Contractors Association of Hawaii serve industries where terminations over performance, conflicts about payments, or disputes over working conditions trigger violence when combined with employees who have construction site access and knowledge of vulnerabilities.
The methodologies I developed during Baghdad Embassy Protection operations, documented by NPR's coverage, address high-risk environments requiring both operational effectiveness and systematic threat assessment.
Construction site violence isn't random—it follows patterns that threat assessment interrupts. The frameworks in Threat Assessment Handbook provide construction-specific protocols.
Hospitality and Tourism: Customer-Facing Violence Risk
Hawaii's tourism economy creates unique workplace violence exposure where employees face public interaction stress, alcohol-related incidents, and service industry pressures.
Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, and Hawaii Restaurant Association serve industries where customer conflicts, tipping disputes, terminations, and high-stress environments create violence risk.
Restaurant and hospitality workers experience harassment, assault, and threatening behavior from both customers and coworkers at rates exceeding most industries—yet systematic workplace violence prevention remains rare.
My hospitality security research demonstrates that customer-facing businesses need adapted threat assessment protocols.
Hawaii Food Industry Association represents grocery and food retail operations where robbery risk combines with employee disputes and customer conflicts—creating complex threat profiles.
Professional Services: White-Collar Violence Nobody Expects
Attorneys, realtors, nurses, and other professionals assume workplace violence happens in "other industries"—until terminated employees, disgruntled clients, or workplace disputes prove otherwise.
Hawaii State Bar Association serves attorneys who handle divorces, custody disputes, and criminal defense—creating client relationships that sometimes become threatening. Law office violence often involves domestic violence spillover when attorneys represent victims against abusers.
Hawaii Association of Realtors members conduct business in isolated locations—showing properties to unknown clients, holding open houses in vacant homes, meeting buyers at remote locations. Real estate agents are murdered regularly nationwide by predators exploiting these vulnerabilities.
Hawaii Nurses' Association represents healthcare workers experiencing patient violence, family member aggression, and workplace conflicts—yet systematic threat assessment in healthcare settings lags behind other industries.
Download comprehensive guide: Insider Threats in Hospitals: Silent Dangers
Chambers of Commerce: Serving Members Without Safety Training
Hawaii's chambers provide networking, advocacy, and business resources—but rarely address workplace violence prevention systematically.
Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, serving statewide membership, could provide centralized threat assessment training reaching businesses across all islands.
Maui Chamber of Commerce serves island businesses still recovering from fire trauma—creating behavioral health challenges requiring specialized workplace approaches detailed in The Prepared Leader.
Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, Vietnamese-American Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, and Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce serve culturally specific business communities requiring culturally adapted threat assessment training.
Hawaii Business League, Waianae Economic Development Council, and Small Business Development Center Hawaii provide business development support—ideal platforms for integrating workplace violence prevention training.
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Hawaii represents small businesses most vulnerable to catastrophic impact from workplace violence—yet least likely to have threat assessment capability.
Retail: Where Customer and Employee Threats Converge
Retail Merchants of Hawaii serves an industry facing both customer violence (robberies, shoplifting confrontations, harassment) and employee disputes (terminations, theft investigations, workplace conflicts).
Retail workplace violence often involves:
Robbery leading to employee injury or death
Shoplifting confrontations escalating
Terminated employees returning to locations they know intimately
Customer stalking of employees
Coworker conflicts in high-stress, low-wage environments
Watch training: Workplace Violence Prevention Fundamentals
Technology and Innovation: Startup Workplace Dynamics
Hawaii Technology Development Corporation serves tech startups and innovation companies where founder disputes, equity conflicts, intellectual property theft, and terminations create unique workplace violence risk.
Tech workplace violence often involves:
Founders forced out expressing grievances
Terminated employees with system access (insider threats)
Intellectual property disputes escalating
Failed partnerships becoming threatening
Financial stress triggering crisis
My research on insider threat management provides frameworks for technology companies.
The Seven Warning Signs Business Owners Miss
The comprehensive frameworks in Campus Under Siege (adaptable to workplace) identify behavioral indicators businesses must monitor:
1. Recent Significant Loss
Termination, demotion, denied promotion, financial crisis, divorce, or public humiliation triggering identity crisis. The employee who defines self-worth through work and loses employment faces catastrophic psychological impact.
2. Expressed Grievance
"They ruined my life." "I gave them everything." "Someone has to make them pay." Persecution narratives justifying retaliation against employer or coworkers.
3. Concerning Communications
Threatening emails, social media posts about workplace, veiled statements suggesting planning, or obsessive focus on perceived injustice.
4. Pathway Behaviors
Researching workplace security, asking about emergency procedures, acquiring weapons, practicing attacks, or creating timelines suggesting planning.
5. Fixation on Violence
Discussing previous workplace shootings, expressing admiration for attackers, or studying violent incidents obsessively.
6. Access and Means
Knowledge of facility layout, security weaknesses, schedules, and access to weapons or dangerous materials.
7. Sudden Behavioral Change
Withdrawal, agitation, concerning statements, giving away possessions, or expressing finality—"you'll see" or "this ends soon."
Members of organizations from Chamber of Commerce Hawaii to Hawaii Restaurant Association to Building Industry Association witness these indicators but lack training to recognize their significance.
Why Small Businesses Face Catastrophic Risk
Large corporations have HR departments, legal counsel, security teams, and resources for threat assessment. Small businesses—the majority served by Hawaii chambers and trade associations—have none of these.
When workplace violence occurs at small businesses:
Owners face personal liability
Insurance may not cover losses
Operations often close permanently
Employees suffer trauma without support
Communities lose economic anchors
The frameworks in Locked Down: The Access Control Playbook address small business security on realistic budgets.
My research on small business survival demonstrates that workplace violence is among the few crisis types that routinely destroy small businesses permanently.
California SB 553: The Model Hawaii Will Soon Follow
California's SB 553 requires workplace violence prevention plans for most employers. Hawaii will likely follow with similar legislation—better to implement voluntarily now than scramble when mandates arrive.
Download compliance guide: California SB 553 Framework
Organizations like Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Hawaii Business League, and sector-specific associations should provide compliance resources before regulatory requirements create panic.
Geographic Isolation Increases Prevention Importance
When workplace violence occurs on the mainland, regional resources deploy rapidly. Crisis intervention teams, specialized law enforcement, victim services—all available within hours.
Hawaii businesses operate 2,500 miles from mainland support.
A workplace violence incident at a Molokai farm, Hana business, or rural Big Island operation requires island resources that may be committed elsewhere. Even Oahu businesses compete for limited specialized capabilities during multiple simultaneous incidents.
This isolation makes proactive workplace violence prevention essential rather than optional.
Having implemented programs validated by the Choctaw Nation's official publication, I understand how geographic constraints demand adapted approaches.
What Systematic Workplace Violence Prevention Requires
Effective programs need structured protocols adapted to business size and industry.
Core components include:
Threat assessment teams including owner/management, HR (if present), legal counsel (on retainer), and trained coordinator managing cases.
Written workplace violence prevention policies distributed to all employees, posted prominently, and reviewed annually.
Employee training on recognizing warning signs, reporting concerning behavior, and responding to threats—required for all staff including management.
Reporting mechanisms allowing anonymous reports, multiple reporting channels, and guaranteed non-retaliation.
Pre-termination threat assessment evaluating violence risk before terminating employees, especially those with access, grievances, or concerning history.
Incident response protocols specifying who does what when threats emerge, including law enforcement notification, employee notification, and facility security.
Post-incident support including employee counseling, investigation, and protocol review.
Watch free training: Behavioral Threat Assessment Fundamentals
The methodologies I developed, featured in ABC7 Los Angeles coverage, adapt to businesses of all sizes.
What Hawaii's Business Organizations Must Do Now
Chambers of Commerce: Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Maui Chamber, and other chambers should provide workplace violence prevention training as member benefit—reaching businesses without internal resources.
Trade Associations: Sector-specific groups like Hawaii Restaurant Association, Building Industry Association, and Hawaii Coffee Association should develop industry-specific threat assessment protocols.
Business Development Organizations: Small Business Development Center Hawaii, Hawaii Business League, and Waianae Economic Development Council should integrate workplace violence prevention into business planning resources.
Professional Associations: Hawaii State Bar Association, Hawaii Association of Realtors, and Hawaii Nurses' Association should provide profession-specific threat assessment training.
Individual Business Owners: Don't wait for your chamber or trade group to act. Access resources through CrisisWire Services and implement prevention protocols immediately.
Contact CrisisWire at crisiswire@proton.me or bit.ly/crisiswire for business-specific consultation.
Free Resources for Hawaii Businesses
Download comprehensive frameworks:
Watch training videos:
Access business-specific resources:
CrisisWire Blog for case studies
FEMA IS-906 - Workplace Security Awareness
Get Expert Consultation for Your Business or Organization
CrisisWire provides comprehensive workplace violence prevention for Hawaii businesses—from sole proprietors to 500-employee operations across all industries.
Free 30-minute consultation includes:
Assessment of current workplace violence risk
Identification of critical prevention gaps
Industry-specific recommendations
Implementation timeline for realistic budgets
Training options for owners and employees
Contact:
Email: crisiswire@proton.me
Website: bit.ly/crisiswire
Phone: (808) [Your Number]
Location: Ewa Beach, Hawaii—serving all islands
Services include:
Workplace violence prevention program development
Employee training on warning signs and reporting
Threat assessment team training
Pre-termination threat assessment
Crisis management planning
Industry-specific protocol development
Chamber/trade association group training
Case consultation for active concerns
Additional resources: CrisisWire Services
The Choice Hawaii's Business Community Faces
Fifty chambers of commerce, trade associations, and industry groups across Hawaii—from Chamber of Commerce Hawaii to Hawaii Restaurant Association, from Building Industry Association to Hawaii Coffee Association—serve thousands of businesses operating without workplace violence prevention capability.
The warning signs are observable. Employees exhibit concerning behaviors. Terminations create risk. Workplace disputes escalate. The intelligence exists.
The question is whether Hawaii businesses will implement prevention before workplace violence destroys operations, or after tragedy forces reaction.
Having prevented violence across military operations, LAPD patrol zones, Baghdad Embassy Protection, and campus environments—with expertise validated by ABC7, NPR, and the Choctaw Nation—I understand both the unique challenges Hawaii businesses face and the solutions that actually work on realistic budgets.
The comprehensive approaches detailed in my five published books—The Prepared Leader, Threat Assessment Handbook, Campus Under Siege, Locked Down, and Uniformed Silence—provide operational frameworks adaptable to businesses of all sizes and industries.
As a member of the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) and with over 30 certifications including Worldwide Protective Specialist, BTAM Certified, International Physical Threat Assessment Expert, and California POST Peace Officer, my expertise extends across all workplace environments.
The employee exhibiting warning signs at your business this week might be the threat your trained team can manage—if you implement prevention before crisis demands it.
Don't wait for violence. Don't wait for litigation. Don't wait for the business closure statistics.
Contact CrisisWire today at crisiswire@proton.me or bit.ly/crisiswire for consultation on establishing workplace violence prevention programs for your business or member organizations.
The frameworks exist. The training is affordable. The expertise is accessible.
What's required is the decision to prioritize prevention over hoping violence happens elsewhere.
Your employees depend on your protection. Your business survival may depend on prevention. Your community's economic stability relies on keeping businesses operational.
Make the call.
About Warren Pulley
Warren Pulley is founder of CrisisWire Threat Management Solutions with 40 years of experience spanning U.S. Air Force security operations, LAPD patrol, Baghdad Embassy Protection, and serving as Director of Safety at Chaminade University of Honolulu. As the subject matter expert featured in ABC7 Los Angeles and NPR's LAist conducting on-camera ballistic testing, and quoted in the Choctaw Nation's official publication, his expertise has been independently validated by major media and government entities.
He holds over 30 certifications including Worldwide Protective Specialist (U.S. State Department), BTAM Certified, International Physical Threat Assessment Expert, California POST Peace Officer, OPSEC Program Manager, and 20+ FEMA certifications including IS-906 (Workplace Security Awareness). His methodologies are detailed in five published books and peer-reviewed research available at Academia.edu. He is a member of the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS).
Featured: ABC7 Los Angeles | NPR/LAist | Orange County Register | Choctaw Nation Official Publication | PRLog
Published Works: The Prepared Leader, Threat Assessment Handbook, Campus Under Siege, Locked Down, Uniformed Silence
Research: Independent.Academia.edu/crisiswire
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