Workplace Violence can be difficult to identify because it is more than homicides or physical assaults. This can be non-violent offenses like stalking, threatening words or other menacing contacts. Workplace Violence is defined as any 
These forms of non-physical and physical violence affect approximately 25 million people a year. When not properly addressed workplace violence can result in a major decline in employee morale, management efficiency, and productivity. There is a cost impact as well, like lost wages, higher benefit payments and greater usage of sick time.
Workplace violence can be divided into 4 categories. However, most people affected by workplace violence are usually subjected to more than one category of workplace violence.
In all of the four following types of workplace violence events, a human being or hazardous agent commits the assault:
Type I – Criminal Intent
The perpetrator has no legitimate business relationship to the workplace and usually enters the affected workplace to commit a robbery or other criminal act.
These incidents are normally between employees who have face to face contact and exchange money with the public, work late at night and into early mornings or work alone. While the perpetrator maybe pretends to be a customer of the establishment, the person has no legitimate business relationship to the workplace.
Type II – Customer/Client/Patients
The perpetrator is either the recipient or the object of a service provided by the affected workplace or the victim. For example, the assailant is a current or former client, patient, customer, passenger, criminal suspect, inmate, or prisoner.
Type II events involve an assault by someone who is either the recipient or object of a service provided by the workplace or victim. These events involve assaults on public safety and correctional personnel, municipal bus or railway drivers, health care and social service providers, teachers, sales personnel, and other public or private service sector employees who provide professional, public safety, or administrative or business services to the public.
Type III Worker/worker
The perpetrator has some employment-related involvement with the affected workplace. For example, an assault by a current or former employee, supervisor or manager.
Type III events generally involve threats of violence resulting in fatal or nonfatal injury to another worker. Commonly found in type III events are the individual may be seeking revenge for what is perceived to be unfair treatment by another coworker, a supervisor, or a manager.
Type IV Personal Relationship
The perpetrator has some employment-related involvement with the affected workplace but is not employed at the workplace. Rather, the agent is known to or has a personal relationship with, an employee.
Most Type IV events involve domestic or romantic disputes in which an employee is threatened in the workplace by an individual who has personal relationships outside of work.
Prevention
If there are one or more of the following factors present in the workplace, employers should consider the workplace to be at potential risk of violence:
- Exchange of money.
- Employees required to work alone at night and during early morning hours.
- Availability of valued items, for example, money and jewelry.
- Guarding of money or valuable property or possessions.
- Employees perform public safety functions in the community.
- Employees work with patients, clients, passengers, customers, or students known or suspected to have a history of violence.
- Some employees have a history of assaults or have exhibited belligerent, intimidating, or threatening behavior to others.
Many workplaces are at risk for workplace violence, but certain workplaces are recognized to be at significantly greater risk than others. Therefore, every employer should perform an initial assessment to identify workplace security factors that have been shown to contribute to the risk of violence.
If you have any questions on what workplace violence is and how your organization may be at risk, contact a Risk Advisor by clicking here or by calling at 914-357-8444
