Earlier this week I conducted a three-hour training session on workplace violence for local businesses. It was a good chance for me to review the very latest facts on this widely acknowledged employment issue.
Workplace violence was first studied by NIOSH and then OSHA in the late 1980’s. Issues and characteristics as well as preventions and controls were researched and promoted, and then the topic faded from the public’s radar although it continued to be of interest to data collectors, if not safety and human resource managers. Since I was one of the first people to research this issue in Virginia (during my university professor days), I have also been quietly monitoring the ups and downs of this subject in the Commonwealth and I’m getting more concerned.
Take a look and decide for yourself. The easiest place to start is at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and their Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities Report (IIF). Workplace homicides have declined more than 50 percent since 1994 but the most recent IIF report offers preliminary data for 2008 and shows 37 fatalities coded as workplace violence in Virginia! This appears high and well above the national average of 10-12 per state.
The most recent, fully investigated year of BLS data is for 2007—the year of the Virginia Tech massacre. In 2007, there were 21 workplace violence fatalities. Included in this year’s data were five of the 32 deaths at Virginia Tech. These five were faculty/employees and were counted by BLS. Yet, despite Virginia Tech being the deadliest of public shootings in Virginia (as well as in the United States) its number of workers dead is less than a quarter of those who died by violence in Virginia workplaces in 2007.
In 2006, there were 32 cases of workplace violence in Virginia. Put these 3 data points together – 2006 (32 cases), 2007 (21 cases), 2008 (37 cases) and while we don’t necessarily see an increasingly upward trend, we do notice a tendency toward large numbers. Workplace violence and some of its precursors – highly stressed individuals are still present and may be growing, due to the hard economic times and the tension of possible layoffs.
It’s a good time to dust off the workplace violence policies and revamp them for current issues and modern technology. More on this topic later.
Tags: Workplace Violence
