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Teachers and Taxi DriversVisit the NIOSH Science Blog to read blog articles on violence against teachers and taxicab drivers. Share your comments and join the discussion.
An average of 1.7 million people were victims of violent crime while working
or on duty in the United States, according to a report published by the
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), each year from 1993 through 1999. An
estimated 1.3 million (75%) of these incidents were simple assaults while
an additional 19% were aggravated assaults. Of the occupations examined,
police officers, corrections officers, and taxi drivers were victimized
at the highest rates.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) reported 11,613 workplace homicide victims between 1992 and 2006. Averaging just under 800 homicides per year, the largest number of homicides in one year (n=1080) occurred in 1994, while the lowest number (n=540) occurred in 2006.
As an integral part of a broad-based initiative to reduce the incidence
of occupational violence in this country, NIOSH conducts, funds, and publishes
research on risk factors
and prevention strategies related to workplace violence. This site
contains information on NIOSH research as well as links to external research
programs, statistical reports, and public and private initiatives to address
the problems of workplace violence.
NIOSH invites grant application for research to reduce the risk of injuries due to violence in the workplace. Areas of interest for the applications include reducing the risk of injuries due to workplace violence through the development and evaluation of new intervention strategies, the evaluation of existing interventions, and the adoption of these strategies in the workplace. Grants awarded under the 2002 RFA are listed in the NIOSH Update: Studies for Workplace Violence Prevention Funded Under Five New NIOSH Grant Awards (November 2002). Grants awarded under the 2008 RFA will appear in the near future.
NIOSH Research on Occupational
Violence and Homicide
NIOSHTIC-2 Search
NIOSHTIC-2
search results on Workplace Violence
NIOSHTIC-2 is a searchable bibliographic database
of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports,
and journal articles supported in whole or in part by the NIOSH.
NIOSH Publications on Occupational Violence
and Homicide
Workplace Violence Prevention Strategies and Research Needs
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2006-144 (September 2006)
This report summarizes discussions that took place during Partnering in Workplace Violence Prevention: Translating Research to Practice—a landmark conference held in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 15–17, 2004. The report does not include a documented review of either the literature on WPV in general or intervention effectiveness research in particular. In addition, the authors have consciously avoided adding the NIOSH perspective to this report or otherwise augmenting its content. We have preferred to represent as accurately as possible the information, ideas, and professional judgments that emerged from the discussions that took place at the Baltimore workshop.
Violence
on the Job
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-100D (DVD)
A training and educational DVD from the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH) provides employers, employees, safety professionals,
and others with recommendations and resources for preventing work-related
homicides and assaults. Violence on the Job
discusses practical measures for identifying risk factors for violence
at work, and taking strategic action to keep employees safe. It is based
on extensive NIOSH research, supplemented with information from other
authoritative sources.
Violence: Occupational
Hazards in Hospitals
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2002-101 (April 2002)
En
español
All hospitals should develop a comprehensive violence prevention program.
No universal strategy exists to prevent violence. The risk factors vary
from hospital to hospital and from unit to unit. Hospitals should form
multidisciplinary committees that include direct-care staff as well as
union representatives (if available) to identify risk factors in specific
work scenarios and to develop strategies for reducing them. All hospital
workers should be alert and cautious when interacting with patients and
visitors. They should actively participate in safety training programs
and be familiar with their employers' policies, procedures, and materials
on violence prevention.
NIOSH Current
Intelligence Bulletin #57: Violence in the Workplace: Risk Factors and
Prevention Strategies
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 96-10 (July 1996)
This CIB reviews what is known about fatal and nonfatal violence in the
workplace, defines research gaps, and recommends general approaches to
workplace violence prevention. The document also summarizes issues that
need to be addressed when dealing with workplace violence in various settings
such as offices, factories, warehouses, hospitals, convenience stores,
and taxicabs. No definitive strategy will ever be appropriate for preventing
violence in all workplaces, but we must begin to change the way work is
done in certain settings to minimize the risk to American workers. We
must work together to address the research and prevention challenges posed
by the complex issue of workplace violence. This document serves as the
foundation for developing a comprehensive strategy for reducing violence
in U.S. workplaces.
NIOSH Report
Addresses Problem of Workplace Violence, Suggests Strategies for Preventing
Risks
DHHS Press Release (July 1996)
This NIOSH report finds that workplace homicides increased in number in
the 1990s after decreasing substantially in the 1980s. Homicide has surpassed
machine-related injuries as the second most prevalent cause of death on
the job, after motor vehicle accidents. The report finds that the taxicab
industry has the highest risk of workplace homicides, nearly 60 times
the national average rate. Workers in health care, community services,
and retail settings are at greatest risk of non-fatal assaults.
NIOSH Alert:
Preventing Homicide in the Workplace
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 93-109 (May 1995)
En
español
The purposes of this Alert are to identify high-risk occupations and workplaces,
inform employers and workers about their risk, encourage employers and
workers to evaluate risk factors in their workplaces and implement protective
measures, and encourage researchers to gather more detailed information
about occupational homicide and to develop and evaluate protective measures.
Occupational
Injury Deaths of Postal Workers -- United States, 1980-1989
MMWR 1994: 43(32): 587, 593-595
Extensive media coverage of work-related homicides at U.S. Postal Service
facilities raised the concern about whether postal workers are at increased
risk for work-related homicide, particularly from those committed by disgruntled
coworkers. Based on national surveillance data, neither the Postal Service
industry nor postal occupations are among the groups at increased risk
for work-related homicide ( 1,2 ). To further assess this concern and
to determine the relative magnitude of occupational injury deaths in the
Postal Service, CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH) used data from its National Traumatic Occupational
Fatalities (NTOF) surveillance system* to examine occupational injury
deaths in the Postal Service and compare Postal Service fatality rates
with overall rates for all U.S. industries. This report summarizes the
results of that analysis.
NIOSH Urges Immediate
Action to Prevent Workplace Homicide
NIOSH Update (October 1993)
During one week, an owner of a pawn shop, a convenience store clerk, a
psychologist, two sanitation managers, a tavern owner, a fisherman, a
cook, two cab drivers, a co-owner of a furniture store, a restaurant manager,
a maintenance supervisor, a video store owner, and a postal carrier were
all victims of workplace homicide. According to the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an average of fifteen people
are murdered at work each week in this country.
Homicide in U.S. Workplaces: A Strategy for Prevention and Research
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 92-103 (September 1992)
435 KB (13 pages)
In July 1990, NIOSH convened a panel of experts in the field of interpersonal
violence to review the NIOSH data to identify areas of concern and to
make recommendations for future research. This document summarizes those
discussions, which may serve as the foundation for the development of
a national strategy for prioritizing research and targeting interventions
to prevent work-related homicides. Workshop participants discussed 1)
limitations of available data, 2) important research issues, 3) areas
where future research is needed, and 4) evaluation of known prevention
strategies.
Convenience Store Safety Poster
35 KB (1 page)
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health conducted a
study of 460 convenience store robberies in three metropolitan areas of
Virginia. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to evaluate the effect
of environmental and organizational interventions on reducing the number
of robberies; and 2) to evaluate the effect of these interventions on
reducing injuries to employees during robberies. In this poster, risk
factors for being robbed and/or injured are presented along with suggestions
for what managers and employees can do to reduce their risk.
Related NIOSH Publications
Women's Safety
and Health Issues at Work
Homicide is the leading cause of injury death for women in the workplace,
accounting for 40% of all workplace death among female workers. Workplace
homicides are primarily robbery-related, and often occur in grocery/convenience
stores, eating and drinking establishments, and gasoline service stations.
Over 25% of female victims of workplace homicide are assaulted by people
they know (co-workers, customers, spouses, or friends). Domestic violence
incidents that spill into the workplace account for 16% of female victims
of job-related homicides.
Female workers are also at risk for nonfatal violence. Women were the
victims in nearly two-thirds of the injuries resulting from workplace
assaults. Most of these assaults (70%) were directed at women employed
in service occupations, such as health care, while an additional 20% of
these incidents occurred in retail locations, such as restaurants and
grocery stores.
Working
with Stress
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2003-114D (DVD), Publication No. 2003-114V
(VHS)
(November 2002)
This DVD program describes workplace factors that can create or exacerbate
worker stress, and suggests practical measures for reducing job-related
stress through changes in work organization. Working
with Stress is the first NIOSH training and educational
video program on the topic of workplace stress. It is a companion program
to the 1999 NIOSH document, "Stress
... At Work."
Fatal
Injuries to Civilian Workers in the United States, 1980-1995: National
and State Profiles
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2001-129S
These two documents include 16 years of data (1980-1995) from the National
Traumatic Occupational Fatalities (NTOF) surveillance system. Statistics
on over 93,000 deaths are provided by demographic and injury characteristics.
These data may be used for developing prevention strategies by enabling
researchers and practitioners in government, academia, industry, and labor
to focus efforts on the leading causes of workplace injury death in the
high-risk industries and occupations.
Worker Health
Chartbook, 2004
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-146
The Worker Health Chartbook, 2004 is a descriptive epidemiologic reference
on occupational morbidity and mortality in the United States. A resource
for agencies, organizations, employers, researchers, workers, and others
who need to know about occupational injuries and illnesses, the Chartbook
includes more than 400 figures and tables describing the magnitude, distribution,
and trends of the Nation’s occupational injuries, illnesses, and
fatalities.
Worker Health
Chartbook, 2000
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2000-127
This document presents national and state occupational health data and
statistics, graphically describing the burden of our Nation's occupational
injuries and illnesses. More than 40 scientists from federal and state
agencies collaborated to present health surveillance information in the
Chartbook's 172 charts and data tables. The Chartbook has a descriptive
focus, presenting data and charts that characterize types of injuries
and illnesses by gender, race, industry, and occupation. The Chartbook
also provides comprehensive reference materials, including appendices
describing the 18 surveillance and statistical systems, and the industry
and occupation classification systems.
Identifying High-Risk
Small Business Industries: The Basis for Preventing Occupational Injury,
Illness, and Fatality
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 99-107 (May 1999)
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has
prepared this report to characterize the risk of occupational injury,
illness, and fatality in industries composed mostly of small business
establishments. Identifying these risks will provide essential information
to practitioners in occupational safety and health, the small business
community (owners, managers, and employees), labor officials, trade associations,
insurers, product suppliers, local and State agencies, and others involved
with small business. This document will be of special interest to researchers
in occupational safety and health as a first step toward identifying the
underlying causes of injuries and illnesses in small business industries
and designing effective and appropriate prevention strategies for a hard-to-reach
target audience.
Stress...At Work
(1999)
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 99-101
This booklet highlights knowledge about the causes of stress at work and
outlines steps that can be taken to prevent job stress.
United States Government Occupational Violence Links
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Homicide Data Links:
Table A-2.
Fatal occupational injuries resulting from transportation incidents and
homicides, All United States, 2006
External link: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cftb0215.pdf
Table A-6. Fatal
occupational injuries resulting from transportation incidents and homicides
by occupation, All United States, 2006
External link: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cftb0219.pdf
The following BLS link allows the user to select various categories;
e.g., occupations, demographic information, and homicides, etc:
Public Data
Query of Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) data
External link: http://data.bls.gov/GQT/servlet/InitialPage
Costs
of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States (NCIPC)
Recognizing the need to better measure both the scope of the problem of
intimate partner violence (IPV) as well as resulting economic costs-in
particular, those related to health care-Congress funded the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention
and Control to conduct a study to obtain national estimates of the occurrence
of IPV-related injuries, to estimate their costs to the health care system,
and to recommend strategies to prevent IPV and its consequences.
Dealing
with Workplace Violence: A Guide for Agency Planners
February 1998 OPM (OWR), Publication No. OWR-09
External link: http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/
handbooksguides/WorkplaceViolence/index.asp
This handbook, developed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and
the Interagency Working Group on Violence in the Workplace, is the result
of a cooperative effort of many Federal agencies sharing their expertise
in preventing and dealing with workplace violence. It is intended to assist
those who are responsible for establishing workplace violence initiatives
at their agencies. However, we anticipate that its usefulness will extend
well beyond the planning phase since many of the chapters provide information
that can be helpful for managers and specialists as they deal with difficult
workplace violence situations.
Handling
Traumatic Events: A Manager's Guide
External link: http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/
handbooksguides/Trauma/index.asp
National Center
for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Psychological First Aid Manual
External link: http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/manuals/nc_manual_psyfirstaid.html
The Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (early release for
Hurricane Katrina response) was created by the Terrorism Disaster Branch
of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the National Center
for PTSD as well as others involved in disaster response. Production of
this information was supported by SAMHSA.
OSHA
Safety and Health Topics: Workplace Violence
External link: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/index.html
Workplace violence has emerged as an important safety and health issue
in today's workplace. Its most extreme form, homicide, is the third-leading
cause of fatal occupational injury in the United States. According to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI),
there were 674 workplace homicides in 2000, accounting for 11% of the
total 5,915 fatal work injuries in the United States. Environmental conditions
associated with workplace assaults have been identified and control strategies
implemented in a number of work settings. OSHA has developed guidelines
and recommendations to reduce worker exposures to this hazard but is not
initiating rulemaking at this time.
Responding
to Domestic Violence: Where Federal Employees Can Find Help
External link: http://www.opm.gov/employment_and_benefits/worklife/officialdocuments/
handbooksguides/DomesticViolence_help/index.asp
Violence in the Workplace: 1993-1999
155 KB (12 pages)
External link: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/vw99.pdf
A Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Special Report based on the National
Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The report focuses on nonfatal violence
in the workplace, including rape and sexual assault, robbery, aggravated
assault, and simple assault. The NCVS data are supplemented by data from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
WISQARS™
The Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System is an interactive
database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data.
Violence in the Workplace:
Preventing It; Managing It
External link: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march04/violence030104.htm
On March 1, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a monograph
entitled
Workplace Violence: Issues in Response.
6,227 KB (80 pages)
External link: http://www.fbi.gov/publications/violence.pdf
The monograph resulted from a June 2002 symposium hosted by the FBI’s
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime entitled “Violence
in the Workplace.” Representatives from NIOSH, other law enforcement
organizations, private industry, government, law, labor, professional
organizations, victim services, academic, and mental health agencies joined
the FBI to share their expertise on this important issue.
@Work-RISQS
The Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System provides a web-based public
access query system for obtaining national estimates (number of cases)
and rates (number of cases per hours worked) for nonfatal occupational
injuries and illnesses treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments.
Users may interactively query based on demographic characteristics, nature
of injury/illness, and incident circumstances for the years 1998 and 1999.
Other Workplace Violence Related Links
NIOSH Science Blog: Preventing Violence Against Taxicab Drivers
Corporate Alliance to End Partner
Violence
External link: http://www.caepv.org
The Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence is a national nonprofit
organization dedicated to reducing the costs and consequences of partner
violence at work - and eliminating it altogether. From policies and programs
to legal issues and legislation, CAEPV is a credible source for information,
materials and advice.
Family Violence
Prevention Fund
External link: http://endabuse.org/workplace/
Domestic violence doesn't stay home when its victims go to work. It can
follow them, resulting in violence in the workplace. Or it can spill over
into the workplace when a woman is harassed by threatening phone calls,
absent because of injuries or less productive from extreme stress. Domestic
violence in the workplace includes all types of behavior that affect a
person's ability to perform a job. With one out of every four American
women reporting physical abuse by an intimate partner at some point in
their lives, it is a certainty that in any mid-to-large sized company,
domestic violence is affecting employees.
Workplace Violence: A Report to the Nation
331 KB (16 pages)
External link: http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/iprc/NATION.PDF
A summary of the problem of workplace violence and the recommendations
developed by participants at the Workplace Violence Intervention Research
Workshop held in Washington, DC in April 2000. The Workshop was sponsored
by the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center.
Workplace Violence References
Trends in Workplace Homicides in the U.S., 1993-2002: A Decade of Decline. Hendricks, Scott A., et al. (2007), American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 50: 316-325.
Societal Cost of Workplace Homicides in the United States, 1992-2001. Hartley, Daniel, et al. (2005),
American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol. 47, pp. 518-527.
Legislation and Regulations Addressing Workplace Violence in
the United States and British Columbia. Barish, Robert. (2001),
American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Vol. 20, No.
2, pp. 149-154.
Workplace Violence Intervention Research Workshop. Merchant,
James and John Lundell. (2001), American Journal of Preventative
Medicine, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 135-140.
The Role of Surveillance and Evaluation Research in the Reduction
of Violence Against Workers. Peek-Asa, Corinne, et al. (2001),
American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Vol. 20, No.
2, pp. 141-148.
Labor Perspective of Workplace Violence Prevention. Rosen,
Jonathan. (2001), American Journal of Preventative
Medicine, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 161-168.
Moving Forward with Research on the Prevention of Violence Against
Workers. Runyan, Carol. (2001), American Journal of Preventative
Medicine, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 169-172.
Violence Prevention at Work: A Business Perspective.
Wilkinson, Carol. (2001), American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Vol.
20, No. 2, pp. 155-160.
A Matched Case-Control Study of Convenience Store Robbery Risk
Factors. Hendricks, Scott, et al. (November 1999), Journal
of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 41, No. 11, pp. 995-1004.
Convenience Store Robberies in Selected Metropolitan Areas.
Amandus, H.E., et al. (May 1997), Journal of Occupational
and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 39, No. 5, pp. 442-447.
Employee Injuries and Convenience Store Robberies in Selected
Metropolitan Areas. Amandus, H.E., et al. (July 1996), Journal
of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 38, No. 7, pp. 714-720.
Reevaluation of the Effectiveness of Environmental Designs to
Reduce Robbery Risk in Florida Convenience Stores. Amandus, H.E.,
et al. (June 1995), Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 711-717.
Workplace Related Homicide Among Health Care Workers in the United
States, 1980 Through 1990. Goodman, Richard,
E. Lynn Jenkins, and James A. Mercy. (December 7, 1994), Journal of the
American Medical Association, Vol. 272, No. 21, pp. 1686-1688.
Occupational Injury Deaths of Postal Workers - United States,
1980 - 1989. CDC/NIOSH. (August 19, 1994), MMWR,
Vol. 43, No. 32, pp. 587, 593-595.
Page last updated:
June 16, 2008
Page last reviewed:
May 14, 2008
Content Source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
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