December 8, 2006—Nearly five percent of the 7.1 million private industry business establishments in the US had an incident of workplace violence within the 12 months prior to completing a new survey on workplace violence prevention, according to findings from the survey, which was conducted for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
BLS surveyed employers regarding their policies and training on workplace violence prevention. Very little information previously existed regarding the policies, training, and other related issues from the employer perspective, explains NIOSH. Most workplace violence studies were from the employee’s or victim’s viewpoint.
Of the establishments that reported an incident of workplace violence within the 12 months prior to completing the survey, about a third reported that the incident had a negative impact on their workforce. The great majority of those establishments did not change their workplace violence prevention procedures after the incident, BLS found. Almost nine percent of those establishments had no program or policy addressing workplace violence.
The voluntary survey was designed to allow characterization of how the issue of workplace violence is addressed in US workplaces and to provide NIOSH and others with information to develop educational interventions to improve workplace safety.
For detailed findings from the Survey of Workplace Violence Prevention (and additional tables and charts in the future), visit BLS.
