The Effects Of Workplace Violence On The Workplace

There is no standard ‘profile’ of a person who commits workplace violence, and by no means is someone a threat just because they display one of these traits. Employees that exhibit many of these traits, and with increasing intensity, may be a danger and may need some help. Being able to identify these signs and warning signals, and reporting it to management timely can help prevent a workplace violence incident.

The CCOHS defines workplace violence as any act in which a person is abused, threatened, intimidated or assaulted in his or her employment. This act of violence may include threatening behavior, harassment, verbal abuse, verbal or written threats, or physical attacks (CCOHS, 2016).

Workplace violence has become a concern for both public and private companies, and has prompted these companies to implement anti-violence programs.

Workplace violence includes any incident in which an employee is threatened, intimated, verbally or physically attacked, harassed, injured or killed. Workplace, or occupational violence, as it is sometimes referred to, has and can occur in almost all types of settings, from large to small, private to public and rural to urban. Therefore, there is a demonstrated need for firms of all types, sizes and in all locations to become aware of the seriousness of

Violence has become a major health issue in the society. Workplace violence is one of the areas that continues to witness a rise. This takes various forms, inclusive are bullying and active gun shooter incidents. This paper will discuss this problem in relation to Nursing.

Unfortunately, workplace violence is all too familiar for most these days. Most think of violence as some sort of physical altercation. However, it’s not only physical, but includes threatening and endangering behavior towards one, or a group of employees. In fact, you may be surprised by some of the actions that are included in workplace violence. Some that you may not think of, but they include and are not limited to: harassment, intimidation, extortion and threats. Obviously, things like assault, kidnapping, homicide, etc… Nearly two million people are involved or victims of workplace violence every year. In the United States, violence is measured with fatal and non-fatal statistics. Violence has surpassed accidental death as the leading

The Xerox shooting and the Sheraton stabbing are good examples of such violent episodes. Both incidences exhibited prior evidence of violence in the workplace; and if proper intervention by management was initiated, these tragedies could have been prevented. Therefore, employers need a good workplace violence program to protect their employees as well as their customers.

International Council of Nurses (ICN). (2007). Guidelines on coping with violence in the workplace. Geneva: ICN.

Workplace violence has increased over the past few years. The violence deals with harassment and threatening disruptive behavior. Workplace violence can occur between employee, employers, customers and patients. In some cases of violence in workplace can end up as a homicide. The goal is to look at the prevention and training methods that are in place to help make an individual work environment safe.

In Understand & Report the Signs of Workplace Violence, we discuss the warning signs of workplace violence

What is workplace violence? The workplace is any place a worker performs a job, such as an office, hospital, parking lot, private residence or public building. Violence is defined as any act of aggression that causes physical or emotional harm, such as physical assault, rape, verbal abuse, threats and even sexual harassment. Type of assault would include pinching, biting, hitting, grabbing, kicking, or being struck by a weapon. Almost any object can be used as a weapon.

According to the FBI, workplace violence is the number one growing homicide in the United States. There are an estimated 225,000 to 300,000 occurrences of violence each year. Despite the aforementioned statistic, some managers have simply failed to address the issue of workplace violence. Such negligence has not necessarily been purposeful. It has been due to a lack of awareness of the problem coupled with a preoccupation of everyday pressures.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) characterizes workplace violence as a demonstration of animosity coordinated toward persons at work or on duty, extending from hostile or debilitating language to homicide. Workplace violence is a major occupational hazard for healthcare providers local and global and needs more media and public attention. A report done by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 1.7 million workers are injured each year due to assaults at work. Although homicides rates remain low in the healthcare setting, assaults remain the highest than any other institution (Gacki-Smith, et al., 2009).

There are several levels of workplace violence. Level one is being disrespectful to other co-workers, not cooperating, verbally abusing others, or simply intimidating and manipulating them. For level of workplace violence, an employees should report this, and seek help responding to the situation. If the person is the supervisor, you report it to upper management and appropriate response action should take place. As upper management you should meet privately with the accused individual, and ask the employee for their side of the story. Reiterate what is acceptable behavior within the company, and correct the issues they may have. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2016). The second level will be escalation. The employee may begin to argue with customers,

Workplace violence is a serious and growing issue in society. Employers need to develop intervention strategies to decrease reduce violence in the workplace. Also, employers and employees need to be aware of the signs when people exhibit behaviors that can lead to workplace violence. As a society, the issue needs to be acknowledged of the reality and work together for creating a solution. Lastly, employers and employees must not live in fear of addressing concerns if they see the potential for workplace violence or report when they witness or experience workplace violence.