WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

Workplace Violence and Harassment

Abstract

Workplace violence has always existed in the United States—indeed, during some periods of our history, fear, intimidation, and physical violence were commonplace in work settings. Contemporary expectations in industrialized democracies, however, are that all workers entitled to a workplace free from recognized hazards. Until approximately the last 15 years, however, those hazards defined almost exclusively as developing from exposure to chemical, thermal, or mechanical energy. Although some occupational groups recognized the risk of violence during the course of doing their jobs (law enforcement, corrections, and to a limited extent, health care— particularly psychiatric care), it has only been in recent decades that violence directed toward persons while at work or on duty recognized as an important occupational safety and health issue across all industrial sectors. The growing field of workplace violence has focused on both understanding the risk factors for victims and developing recommendations to reduce the incidence and severity of events in the future.

Workplace Violence and Harassment

Introduction

The essential concern of environmental criminology is to focus on crime patterns. Recurring events have certain patterns that give clues to develop preventive measures. Crime prevention efforts generally directed to street crimes to prevent subsequent victimizations. However, recent research indicates that workplace violence is a major problem that needs to be considered along with traditional crimes. Today, workplace violence has been accepted as an emerging problem in many countries. In the United States, for instance, almost 1,000 workers murdered at work each year. When considering the 2005 homicide rate (5.6/100,000) of the United States, nearly 1 out of 16.6 homicides is because of workplace violence. That makes workplace homicide the second leading cause of death in the United States.Prevalence of Sexual Harassment

One commonly cited study estimates that 44% of working women and 19% of working men experience some form of unwanted sexual attention while at work. According to Welsh (2000), of complaints filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission during the period from 1978 through 1993, 74% dealt with unwanted sexual attention, 46% dealt with gender harassment, 25% involved relational advances, and 10% involved quid pro quo situations. Welsh's (2000) results are consistent with research that finds the occurrence of different types of SH to be highly correlated . The research of Fitzgerald, Swan, and Magley (1997) indicates that gender harassment (i.e., behaviors that express hostile and insulting views toward women but are not aimed at achieving sexual cooperation) experienced more frequently than unwanted sexual attention (unwanted behaviors that aimed at achieving sexual cooperation but are not tied to job-related outcomes), which in turn experienced more frequently than sexual coercion (unwanted behaviors that aimed at achieving sexual cooperation and tied to job-related outcomes).

During the decade from 1992 through 2002, the number of SH charges received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Fair Employment Practice Agencies (FEPAs) in the United States increased by almost 37% (from 10,532 in 1992 to 14,396 in 2002). The monetary benefits (excluding those obtained through litigation) associated with these charges increased by over 200% during the same time period (from ...