DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03717.v1
title: Non-Fatal Workplace Violence in Lincoln, Nebraska, 1996-1997
title: Version 1

description: This project investigated non-fatal workplace violence in
 Lincoln, Nebraska, over an 18-month period. Workplace violence was
 defined as any behavior by an individual that was intended to harm
 workers of an organization, including all instances of physical and
 verbal aggression and violence. The principal investigator coded all
 cases of non-fatal workplace violence reported to the Lincoln Police
 Department during the study period with regard to 17 factors,
 including the type of workplace violence, the intimacy level of the
 perpetrator (boyfriend/husband, ex-boyfriend/husband), whether a
 weapon was mentioned, whether threats had been made, and the intensity
 level of violence. The goals of this project were (1) to present
 epidemiological information concerning non-fatal workplace violence,
 (2) to address the different types of workplace violence and
 differences across those types, and (3) to analyze risk factors
associated with higher and lower intensity violence.
description: This project investigated non-fatal workplace
 violence in a metropolitan Midwestern city with a population of
 approximately 200,000. Workplace violence was defined as any behavior
 by an individual that was intended to harm workers of an organization,
 including all instances of physical and verbal aggression and
 violence. The principal investigator studied one police department's
 criminal records of workplace violence incidents over an 18-month
 period to create a proactive and reactive cluster model for assessing
 risk factors associated with varying levels of violence intensity. The
 goals of this project were (1) to present epidemiological information
 concerning non-fatal workplace violence, (2) to address the different
 types of workplace violence and differences across those types, and
 (3) to analyze risk factors associated with higher and lower intensity
violence.
description: With the cooperation of the chief of police, the
 principal investigator identified workplace violence incidents in the
 Lincoln Police Department computer database. All combinations of
 police contacts (i.e., rape, physical assault) and location codes
 (businesses) that satisfied workplace violence definition parameters
 were targeted. An initial computer search tagged approximately 1,000
 cases. Closer scrutiny of the criminal incident summaries on the
 computer printout enabled researchers to rule out ineligible cases
 that did not meet the parameters of the workplace violence
 definition. This portion of the project produced approximately 400
 eligible incident reports. The next step involved the manual retrieval
 of actual criminal incident records. This final stage of
 identification resulted in a net total of 254 incidents filed with the
 Lincoln Police Department over the investigated 18-month period that
 qualified as workplace violence incidents. Four researchers coded the
 cases on 17 factors, including the type of workplace violence, the
 intimacy level of the perpetrator (boyfriend/husband,
 ex-boyfriend/husband), whether a weapon was mentioned, whether threats
 had been made, and the intensity level of violence. Two teams randomly
 coded 20 percent of the 254 non-fatal workplace violence
 incidents. Teams A and B were separated and instructed to individually
 code their half of the 20 percent of randomly chosen cases, exchange
 the cases once done, and discuss discrepancies that may have
 occurred. Reliability for the initial step was held at a threshold of
 .90 and no coding fell below .91 using a Kappa coefficient. Subsequent
 to the first round of coding, cases were exchanged between Teams A and
 B and the initial process was repeated. For the purpose of this
 project, California's Occupational Safety and Health Association
 (Cal/OSHA) categorization of workplace violence types was used. In the
 first type of workplace violence (Type I) the perpetrator had no
 legitimate relationship to the workplace and usually entered the
 workplace to commit a robbery or other criminal act. In the second
 category (Type II), the aggressor was either the recipient or the
 object of a service provided by the affected workplace or the
 victim. Finally, in the third category (Type III) the perpetrator had
 an employment-related involvement with the workplace, such as an
 assault by a current or former employee, supervisor or manager,
 current/former spouse or lover, relative or friend, or some other
person who had a dispute involving an employee of the workplace.
description: Variables include location of the incident, type of
 violence, level of injury, threats, motives, property damage, use of
 weapon, time of year of incident, relationship between victim and
 offender, presence of witnesses, whether the offender had a prior
 criminal record, scale of violence intensity, and workplace violence
 typology. Demographic variables include the age, sex, and ethnicity of
the victims and offenders.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: The principal investigator created scales for type of
violence and violence intensity.
description: Not applicable.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Non-Fatal Workplace Violence in Lincoln, Nebraska, 1996-1997
description: All cases of workplace violence handled by the Lincoln
Police Department between January 1, 1996, and June 30, 1997.
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection
 instruments are provided by ICPSR as a Portable Document Format (PDF)
 file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated
 and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe
 Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat
Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.