Workplace Violence and Victimization

Violence in the workplace accounted for 18 percent of all violent crime between 1993 and 1999. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2001. Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Workplace homicide is primarily robbery-related. (Ibid.)

The rates of workplace assaults are higher for males than females. (Ibid.)

On average, between 1993 and 1999, 1.7 million violent victimizations per year were committed against people in the workplace, including: 1.3 million simple assaults, 325,000 aggravated assaults, 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults, 70,000 robberies, and 900 homicides. (Ibid.)

Of the occupations measured, police officers are at the greatest risk to be victims of workplace violence. Other occupations at risk are correctional officers, taxicab drivers, private security workers, and bartenders. (Ibid.)

In 1999, there were 2,637 nonfatal assaults committed against on-duty hospital workers. This rate of 8.3 assaults per 10,000 is significantly higher than the rate of nonfatal assaults for all public sector industries – 2 per 10,000. (Centers for Disease Control. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Violence, Occupational Hazards in Hospitals. 2002. Atlanta, GA: National Institute of Health.)

Simple assaults account for 75 percent (or 1.3 million victimizations) of the crimes committed against people while working. Aggravated assaults account for 19 percent of workplace violence. (Bureau of JusticeStatistics. 2001. Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Homicide is the leading cause of injury death for women in the workplace. (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Women’s Safety and Health Issues at Work. www.cdc.gov/niosh/injury/traumaviolence.html. Site visited 10/23/03.)

Victims of nonfatal workplace violence stated they knew their offender in about 40 percent of the cases. Victims identified intimates as the perpetrator in about 1 percent of all workplace violent crime. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2003. Criminal Victimization 2002. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Each year, victims of intimate partner violence lose nearly 8 million days of paid work because of the violence - the equivalent of over 32,000 full-time jobs. (Centers for Disease Control. 2003. Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.)

One-fifth of women raped by an intimate and one-third of stalking victims lost time at work because of the victimization. (Ibid.)