Breaking New Ground 

Public Health Takes on Workplace Violence 

By Brigette Settles Scott, MA and Kerrita McClaughlyn


Closing the Gap, Violence Prevention - Who’s Responsible? • January/February 2002


The threat of violence occurring in the workplace is a daily risk 

that many Americans face. A large number of recent immigrants and other racial and ethnic groups traditionally hold 

jobs in industries that are plagued by incidents of violence in the 

workplace. 

The problem is particularly acute for taxicab drivers, convenience 

store clerks and other retail workers, security guards , and others working in industries with high percentages of minority workers. These 

deaths often go unnoticed or are not chronicled in the media as often 

as other more sensational acts of co-worker violence such as the February 2001 shooting at the diesel engine plant in Chicago, or the December 2001 shooting at an Indiana factory 

Workplace Violence At-A-Glance 

Its most extreme form, homicide, is the third leading cause of 

fatal occupational injury in the United States. According to the National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), 2000, Bureau of 

Labor Statistics, there were 677 workplace homicides in 2000, accounting for 11 percent of the total 5,915 fatal work injuries in the 

United States. Of the 677 workplace homicides, 11 percent of the 

offenders were a co-worker, former co-worker, or a customer of the 

victim. 

CFOI reported that people in sales occupations experienced a 

high number of workplace homicides—53 percent of a total 386 

deaths. In 2000, there were 70 taxi driver/chauffeur work-related 

deaths, of which 60 percent were homicides. Of the 142 police, 

detective, and supervisor deaths in 2000, 35 percent were homicides. 

Homicide is not the only act of violence to occur in the workplace. Between 1993 and 1999, an average of 1.7 million non-fatal 

violent acts were committed against persons who were at work or on 

duty, according to the Violence in the Workplace National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), 1993-1999, published in December 2001. 

NCVS further reports that the most common types of non-fatal 

workplace violent crimes include simple and aggravated assaults, rapes 

and sexual assaults, and robberies. 

From 1993 to 1999, law enforcement personnel were victimized while at work or on duty at the highest average rate of 261 per 

1,000 persons—the highest rate of the occupations examined. Mental health professionals followed with a workplace victimization rate 

of 68.2 per 1,000 persons, and retail sales personnel saw a rate of 20 

per 1,000 persons. 

Who’s at Risk? 

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health (NIOSH), workers are most at risk if their jobs involve routine 

contact with the public or exchange of money. Workers are also at 

increased risk in situations such as working alone or in small numbers, 

working very late or very early hours, or working in high crime areas. 

Other factors include, having a mobile workplace such as a taxicab or 

police cruiser, working with unstable or volatile persons in health care, 

social services, or criminal justice settings, guarding valuable property 

or possessions and working in community-based settings. 

The Need for More Public Health Involvement 

Prevention efforts have largely focused on creating a safe working environment—and less on the implications workplace violence 

presents to the overall health care field. Recognizing the need to increase public health’s role in the prevention of workplace violence, the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded a workshop in 

April 2000 that brought together representatives of industry, labor, 

academia, and government to identify areas within workplace violence that are not well understood.

 As a result of the workshop, a report was released in February 

2001, Workplace Violence - A Report to the Nation, by the University 

of Iowa’s Injury Prevention Research Center, that identifies workplace 

violence as a significant public health 

problem, and stresses the need for research 

in this area. Moreover, the report also 

states that although workplace violence 

causes millions of injuries and billions of 

dollars in costs, our understanding of 

workplace violence is still in its infancy. 

Additional research—particularly in areas of data collection and intervention— 

is critically needed in order to reduce the 

toll workplace violence has on American 

workers. 

continued on page 2>>>> 

Fatal Occupational Injuries by 

Worker Characteristics and 

Event or Exposure, 2000 

Total Number 

of Fatalities 

Transportation 

Incidents-% 

Objects/ 

Equipment-% 

Assaults/ 

Violent Acts-% 

5,915 43.5 17.0 15.7 

White 4,240 46.7 17.0 12.8 

Black/African American 574 42.2 17.4 23.0 

Hispanic/Latino 815 33.1 18.8 15.8 

American Indian/Alaska Native 33 42.4 -- 15.2 

Asian 171 21.1 7.6 56.7 

Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 14 -- -- 35.7 

Other races or not reported 68 35.3 16.2 29.4 

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Categories not shown are falls, exposure to harmful substances, and fires and explosions. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that did not 

meet publication criteria 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center 1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
Breaking New Ground 

Public Health Takes on Workplace Violence 

By Brigette Settles Scott, MA and Kerrita McClaughlyn


Closing the Gap, Violence Prevention - Who’s Responsible? • January/February 2002


“We have been viewing the problem 

of workplace violence too narrowly, and in 

so doing, we’ve not been able to get on top 

of it. It’s not just a crime issue, or a private 

industry issue, or a labor issue. It’s a much 

broader public health problem,” said Dr. 

James Merchant, Dean of the University 

of Iowa’s College of Public Health in a press 

statement. 

Dr. David Banks, Adjunct Associate 

Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences 

at the University of Maryland University 

College adds that the public health sector, 

including specialists such as nurses, are 

uniquely qualified to help prevent workplace violence in their institutions by observing predictors such as stressful work 

conditions. 

“Public health professionals such as 

health educators can also do a great deal to 

stem the effects of workplace violence by 

providing holistic and other health services 

helping survivors deal with the aftermath 

of the issue,” he said. 

Workplaces in both the public and 

private sector can greatly benefit from workplace violence preparation. Benefits range 

from preservation of life to cost reduction. 

They include: risk reduction, improved 

employee morale, increased feelings of security, enhanced supervisory skills, early 

identification of issues, business cost reduction, improved capability to resolve 

conflicts in positive manner, and reduced 

legal liability. 

“It’s important for us to remember that 

workplace violence occurs in a variety of 

settings and is not limited to any particular 

profession, economic, or racial/ethnic 

group. All the data show that it affects folks 

across the board and is not related to race 

or socioeconomic status,” said Dr. Banks. 

For more information on workplace 

violence, go to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh or 

call 800-35-NIOSH (800-356-4674).

Workplace Resources 

Dealing with Workplace Violence: A Guide for 

Agency Planners, a handbook developed by 

the Office of Personnel Management and the 

Interagency Working Group on Violence in the 

Workplace, is the result of a cooperative effort 

of many Federal agencies sharing their expertise 

in preventing and dealing with workplace violence. It is intended to assist those who are responsible for establishing workplace violence initiatives at their agencies. 

For more information, go to http:// 

www.opm.gov/workplac/ 

The National Institute for Occupational Safety 

and Health (NIOSH) provides a comprehensiveWeb site that includes information on workplace violence such as reports and fact sheets, 

alerts on how to prevent homicide in the workplace, risk factors and prevention strategies, and 

links to other sites providing information on 

violence. 

For more information, go to http:// 

www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.htm 

The National Institute for the Prevention of 

Workplace Violence educates employers, 

unions, and employees about the growing threat 

of violence in the workplace and how to effectively deal with it. It focuses on preventative 

efforts and prepares clients to respond appropriately should an incident of violence occur. It 

also provides facts and figures on workplace violence and studies and guides, including “A 

Supervisor’s Guide for Responding to Violence, 

Threats, or Any Inappropriate Behaviors.’’ 

For more information, go to http:// 

www.workplaceviolence911.com 

The National Workplace Resource Center on 

Domestic Violence, a program of the Family 

Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), is a collaboration between the FVPF, employers and 

unions across the nation. Through the project, 

employers and unions offer information to employees and union members, develop workplace 

policies, and strive to ensure that workplaces 

across America are supportive of the special 

needs of employees who are facing domestic 

violence. 

Project materials include Domestic Violence: A Union Issue, A Workplace Training 

Kit for Unions and its companion video, Domestic Violence: Unions Respond. Both provide unions with tools to educate their members about domestic violence and to develop 

effective prevention and intervention strategies. 

Developed by FVPF, the Kit includes 

comprehensive training outlines and materials designed to facilitate training sessions that 

increase awareness about domestic violence 

in the workplace and educate union leaders 

and members about how to successfully address the problem. 

For more information, got to http:// 

endabuse.org/programs/workplace/ 

Violence in the Workplace, 1993-99, a spe­


cial report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics,


was released in December 2001. Report looks


at the following issues:


3⁄4 Trends in workplace violence;


3⁄4 Occupational differences in victimiza­


tion rates (police officers experienced 

workplace violent crime at rates higher 

than all other occupations—261 per 

1,000 persons); 

3⁄4 Racial and ethnic differences (the workplace violent crime rate for whites—13 

per 1,000 in the workforce—was 25 

percent higher than the black rate of 10 

per 1,000 and 59 percent higher than 

the rate of 8 per 1,000 for other races); 

3⁄4 Victimization in various job locations 

(private sector and Federal employees 

were victimized at similar rates); and 

3⁄4 Weaponry used (more than 80% of all 

workplace homicides were committed 

with a firearm). 

For more information on workplace violence, go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ 

pdf/vw99.pdf 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center	 2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services