Workplace Violence
Workplace violence has existed throughout history. However, historical documentation of workplace violence is vague and sometimes non-existent. Documented workplace violence is believed to have existed during the Roman Empire, the Renaissance Era, and it continues today. It seems unfortunate, but as long as a “society” exists, workplace violence will more than likely exist. Therefore, employers must understand: the history of workplace violence, the effects it has on the organization, the reasons why it occurs, the warning signs, and ways to prevent it from occurring. Most importantly, it is the responsibility of the Manager, to not only understand workplace violence, but to ensure that all employees
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That’s about a million people in the workplace each year who are the victims of some form of violent crime, which includes physical attacks, threats, harassment or property crimes (Kenny, Joseph A.).
Each day thousands of employees are subject to threats, harassment, intimidation, and verbal or physical attacks. According to OSHA, workplace homicide is the leading cause of death for women and the 2nd leading cause of death for men. This growing problem has mangers as well as employees uneasy about their safety at work. It also has employers concerned about the tremendous liability associated with incidents of workplace violence. Therefore, it would be beneficial to employers, managers and employees to have some knowledge of workplace violence. Additionally, employers have a legal and moral obligation to provide a safe working environment for their employees.
Workplace violence includes any incident in which an employee is threatened, intimated, verbally or physically attacked, harassed, injured or killed. Workplace, or occupational violence, as it is sometimes referred to, has and can occur in almost all types of settings, from large to small, private to public and rural to urban. Therefore, there is a demonstrated need for firms of all types, sizes and in all locations to become aware of the seriousness of
Workplace violence is present in every nook and cranny of corporate America, affecting millions of Americans every year. Workplace violence is defined by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, OSHA, as 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. In 2011, there were over 2 two million reports and claims of workplace violence, with 458 being homicides1. Workplace violence is at the forefront of everyone’s mind when a breaking news story is broadcast on the evening news, such as the recent shootings in Santa Cruz, California by a disgruntled ex-cop, and the
Workplace violence has become a concern for both public and private companies, and has prompted these companies to implement anti-violence programs.
Unfortunately, workplace violence is all too familiar for most these days. Most think of violence as some sort of physical altercation. However, it’s not only physical, but includes threatening and endangering behavior towards one, or a group of employees. In fact, you may be surprised by some of the actions that are included in workplace violence. Some that you may not think of, but they include and are not limited to: harassment, intimidation, extortion and threats. Obviously, things like assault, kidnapping, homicide, etc… Nearly two million people are involved or victims of workplace violence every year. In the United States, violence is measured with fatal and non-fatal statistics. Violence has surpassed accidental death as the leading
If you are like me, you wonder where are these people working?! According to OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) certain work factors, processes and interactions put us at increased risk for violence. Examples include:
In Understand & Report the Signs of Workplace Violence, we discuss the warning signs of workplace violence
Safety is a very important subject that should be addressed at every place of employment. In today’s world, nobody is safe from a terrorist attack or act of violence towards yourself. More and more we are hearing of people committing crimes of violence in the workforce, public areas, schools, and where there are crowds of people. In my employment, we had an act of violence and threats towards employees. An outsider was doing some volunteer work for us and became too touchy with the other female volunteers and female employees. His behavior was brought to his attention, and he became irate with the male employee and threatened him and the other volunteers working that night. He was removed from the company property, and the police were called. The next day my employer had camera’s and
Workplace violence is a serious problem that deserves to be explored due to the number of incidents and the severity of some incidents. This study will focus on the possibility of violent encounters which employees of two Boards of Education in separate districts could become victims of
According to the FBI, workplace violence is the number one growing homicide in the United States. There are an estimated 225,000 to 300,000 occurrences of violence each year. Despite the aforementioned statistic, some managers have simply failed to address the issue of workplace violence. Such negligence has not necessarily been purposeful. It has been due to a lack of awareness of the problem coupled with a preoccupation of everyday pressures.
Significantly, workplace violence has continued to escalate over the last few years. In fact, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) stated that homicide related to workplace violence is the fourth leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States (Safety, n.d.). Unfortunately, workplace violence is a major concern for employees and employers across the county. Workplace violence can be the end result of affection gone bad or pure resentment and rage.
I believe that a workplace/institution needs to be committed to wanting to provide a safe workplace. For example, it could begin with a worksite analysis in order to identify potential vulnerabilities in terms of environment and setting. An overview of this analysis would then provide possible opportunities/gaps that exist to develop and subsequently implement proactive safety strategies. Further, it is not only the organization/managers who need to be committed in keeping workers safe/preventing violence, but there should be some form of zero-violence tolerance policy implemented in which employees can follow this policy to the effect that they understand how they are to be involved in the steps or plan that is implemented. For example,
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) characterizes workplace violence as a demonstration of animosity coordinated toward persons at work or on duty, extending from hostile or debilitating language to homicide. Workplace violence is a major occupational hazard for healthcare providers local and global and needs more media and public attention. A report done by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 1.7 million workers are injured each year due to assaults at work. Although homicides rates remain low in the healthcare setting, assaults remain the highest than any other institution (Gacki-Smith, et al., 2009).
Violence in the workplace continues to be a major concern and recently the concern has been growing by situations that have taken place. An assault, or threat of an assault, directed toward a worker on duty falls under the category of workplace violence. There are a lot of issues that can cause workplace violence. Stress, economic hardship and the inability to control anger are all some issues that can lead to health and safety issues. OSHA, as well as state and government agencies give practical guidelines to establish safe working environments, the role of a manager is very important in aiding in the prevention of workplace violence.
Have you ever been physically assaulted or even threatened at a place of business you have worked at? If you didn’t know this is a crime and you could be charged with workplace violence. Workplace violence is any act of physical abuse or threats made in the workplace of any sort to any employee or multiple employees. It can take place anywhere around the workplace and has become a very big concern around the country. According to research, there are 2 million cases a year involving workplace violence. Many people are becoming victims of this and you should be aware when it comes your way in any form. The main people who are targeted in this are mostly workers who exchange money with the public, correctional officers, teachers, and healthcare employees.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released a staggering statistic which indicated there were 14,770 workplace homicide victims between 1992 and 2012. Averaging over 700 homicides per year, the largest number of homicides in one year (n=1080) occurred in 1994, while the lowest number (n=468) occurred in 2011. From 2003 to 2012 over half of the workplace homicides occurred within three occupation classifications: sales and related occupations (28%), protective service occupations (17%), and transportation and material moving occupations (13%). While homicides are the extreme example of workplace
Workplace violence and prevention: Workplace violence as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] is “any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site” (n.d.). In recent years workplace violence has received accumulative consideration, and has been increasingly responsible