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VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE
- Nearly 1 million violent victimizations occur while the
victims are working or on duty each year. These victimizations
result in almost 160,000 injuries each year.
- Each week in the United States, an average of 20 workers
are murdered and 20,000 are assaulted while at work.
- Over 50% of all victimizations sustained at work were
not reported to police.
- Homicide is the second leading cause of death in the workplace,
following deaths resulting from transportation injuries.
- Homicide is the leading cause of death for women in the
workplace.
- Distribution of the relationship between victim and offender
in workplace violence by gender:
Victim-offender relationship Percent of victimizations:
- Male Female
- Stranger 58% 40%
- Casual acquaintance 30% 35%
- Well known 10% 19%
- Relative 1% 1%
- Intimate 1% 5%
- While working or on duty, U.S. residents experienced 1.7
million violent victimizations annually from 1993 to 1999
including 1.3 million simple assaults, 325,000 aggravated
assaults, 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults, 70,000 robberies,
and 900 homicides. Workplace violence accounted for 18%
of all violent crime between 1993 and 1999.
- US Dept of Justice, 2002
- Over 50% of all victimizations sustained at work were
not reported to police.
- US Department of Justice, 1996
- Homicide was the third leading cause of death in the workplace
in 2000. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there
were 674 workplace homicides in 2000, accounting for 11%
of the total 5,915 fatal work injuries in the US.
- OSHA 2002
- Overall, 18% of violent crimes (22% of all males and 15%
of all females violently victimized) were committed while
the victim was working or on duty. The rate of violent crime
experienced by persons at work or on duty was 13 per 1,000
persons in the workforce.
- OSHA 2002
- Intimates were identified by the victims of workplace
violence as the perpetrators in about 1% of all workplace
violent crimes. About 40% of the victims of nonfatal violence
in the workplace reported that they knew their offender.
- US Dept of Justice, 2002
- In California, 73.9% of the work-related homicides were
committed by an individual who did not have a legitimate
business relationship to the workplace (i.e. robberies and
other crime, etc.). An additional 13.3% of the homicides
were committed by individuals who were either the recipient
or the object of a service provided by the affected workplace
or victim (i.e. law enforcement, teachers, health care,
etc.). The remaining 12.8% were committed by individuals
who had some employment-related involvement with the workplace
(i.e. co-worker, business partner, spouse, etc.).
- California Dept of Industrial Relations, 1995
- Workplace violence is not distributed randomly across
all workplaces but is clustered in particular occupational
settings. More than half (56%) of workplace homicides occurred
in retail trade and service industries.
- US Dept of Health and Human Services, NIOSH, 1999
- The industries with the highest incidence rates of workplace
violence are: social services (14 assaults per 100 full
time equivalent workers) and health service workers (9 assaults
per 100 full time workers). The national average is 1.8
assaults per 100 full time equivalent workers.
- NIOSH 1999
- Of selected occupations examined from 1993 to 1999, police
officers were the most likely to be victims of workplace
violence, as well as correctional officers, taxicab drivers,
private security workers, and bartenders.
- US Dept of Justice, 2002
- The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Survey of Occupational
Injuries and Illnesses reports a total of 16,664 workplace
non-fatal assaults and violent acts resulting in lost workdays
in 1999.
- About 2.2% of all workers’ compensation payments
were related to interpersonal violence.
- Urban Research Institute, 1995
- In California, most work-related homicides occurred between
3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. and from 11:00 p.m. to midnight.
Work related homicides were least common between 5:00 a.m.
and 6:00 a.m.
- California Dept of Industrial Relations, 1995
- Risk factors for violence related fatal injuries in the
workplace include contact with the public, exchange of money,
delivering passengers, goods or services, working alone
or in small numbers, working late night or early morning
hours, and working in high crime areas.
- US Dept of Labor 2002
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