Most people do not think about being hurt while they are at work. A study done by the National Institute Occupational Safety and Health showed that an average of 20 American workers were killed and 18,000 were assaulted each week. Because of this amount of work place violence, it has become the third leading cause of death among men and the leading cause of death among women. It is claiming nearly 100 lives from every type of organization, from large to small, public or private, in a year. This survey also showed that most riskiest profession was a cab driver, then they were followed by a sheriff or bailiff and police officer or detective.
Workplace violence can be costly in many ways.
There may be a loss of morale among the workers and the morale may tend to drop. Along with the people that may be physically injured, there may be many other people who are severely effected by the event. There may also be legal fees, punitive damages and medical bills to pay. With all this violence employers are under heavy pressure to try and prevent this violence from occurring. This is very hard to do since they may face liability ignoring the potential violence as well as the liability taking action to prevent it.