Which of the following jobs is at the greatest risk of workplace violence?

Workplace violence is defined as any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation or threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. With this definition, workplace violence incidents can range anywhere from a theft or a robbery at a convenience store to a full blown terrorist attack that impacts your organization. When developing your workplace violence prevention plan, it is critical that you understand exactly what workplace violence entails. In a recent webinar, Steven M. Crimando, Principal, Behavioral Science Applications, outlined five types of workplace violence you should be ready for:

Type One – Criminal Intent Criminal intent workplace violence incidents is when the perpetrator has no relationship with the targeted establishment and the primary motive is theft. This type is generally a robbery, shoplifting or trespassing incident that turns violent. The biggest targets of criminal intent violence are workers who exchange cash, work late hours or work alone.

Type Two – Customer/Client During a customer/client workplace violence incident, the perpetrator is a customer or client of the employer and the violence often occurs in conjunction with the worker’s normal duties. The occupations with the highest risk for customer/client violence are healthcare and social service workers whom are four times more likely to be a victim than the average private sector employee, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Type Three – Worker-to-Worker This type of workplace violence incident is generally perpetrated by a current or former employee, and the motivating factor is often interpersonal or work-related conflicts, or losses and traumas. The group highest at risk for this type of workplace violence incident is managers and supervisors.

Type Four – Domestic Violence Domestic violence in the workplace oftentimes is perpetrated by someone who is not an employee or a former employee. This type of incident is frequent because the abuser knows exactly where his/her spouse will be during work hours. Women are targeted much more frequently than men, and the risk of violence increases when one party attempts to separate from the other.

Type Five – Ideological Violence Ideological workplace violence is directed at an organization, its people, and/or property for ideological, religious or political reasons. The violence is perpetrated by extremists and value-driven groups justified by their beliefs. Many of the recent active shooter and terrorist incidents across the globe fall under this bucket. One of the most impactful forms of workplace violence recently has been active shooter incidents.

To learn how well prepared your organization is for this emergency, take our Active Shooter Preparedness Assessment. 

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Most people think of violence as a physical assault. However, workplace violence and harassment is a much broader problem. It can be defined as any act in which a person is abused, threatened, intimidated or assaulted in his or her employment.

While exact definitions vary in legislation, generally speaking workplace violence or harassment includes:

• Threatening behaviour – such as shaking fists, destroying property or throwing objects.
• Verbal or written threats – any expression of an intent to inflict harm.
• Verbal abuse – swearing, insults or condescending language.
• Physical attacks – hitting, shoving, pushing or kicking.

Some jurisdictions include harassment as a form of violence, while others define harassment separately. Harassment can be thought of as any behaviour that demeans, embarrasses, humiliates, annoys, alarms or verbally abuses a person and that is known or would be expected to be unwelcome. These behaviours include words, gestures, intimidation, bullying, or other inappropriate activities.

Generally speaking, any action or behaviour – from rumours, swearing, verbal abuse, pranks, arguments, property damage, vandalism, sabotage, pushing, theft, physical assaults, psychological trauma, anger-related incidents, rape, arson to murder – are all examples of workplace violence and/or harassment.

Also note that workplace violence or harassment is not limited to incidents that occur within a traditional workplace. Work-related incidents can occur at off-site business-related functions (conferences, trade shows), at social events related to work, in clients' homes, or away from work but resulting from work (a threatening telephone call to your home from a client).

Which job is at greatest risk of workplace violence?

Which profession faces the most violence?

Which of the following workers has the highest risk of becoming a victim of workplace violence?