601 Essentials of Occupational Safety and Health

Preventing Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide. It can affect and involve employees, clients, customers, and visitors.

Violence can occur in any workplace and among any type of worker, but the risk for fatal violence is greater for workers in sales, protective services, and transportation, while the risk for nonfatal violence resulting in days away from work is greatest for healthcare and social assistance workers.

Acts of violence and other injuries is currently the third-leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI):

• of the 5,250 fatal workplace injuries that occurred in the United States in 2018, 453 were cases of intentional injury by another person;
• the number of workplace homicides has been more than cut in half since 1995;
• the rate of workplace homicides has remained relatively flat since 2011;
• the rate of nonfatal assaults has almost doubled, from 11,690 in 2011 to 20,790 in 2018.

All too frequently, employees become victims of violent acts that result in substantial physical or emotional harm. For injured or threatened employees, workplace violence can lead to medical treatment, missed work, lost wages, and decreased productivity.

For many occupations, workplace violence represents a serious occupational risk. Violence at work can take many forms: harassment, intimidation, threats, theft, stalking, assault, arson, sabotage, bombing, hostage-taking, kidnapping, extortion, suicide, and homicide. For each murder, there are countless other incidents of workplace violence in which victims are threatened or injured.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.