Violence at Work Place

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Violence at Work Place
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CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Definition
• Types of Violence at work place
• Risk factor for violence
• Job at Risk Violence
• Prevention

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introduction
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• Violence at work place? involve unlawful
  activities that direct to legal action or police
  investigation that can result in criminal
  procedure.
• Violent acts include physical and non-physical
  assaults (hitting, kicking, beating, squeezing,
  and so on)
• can have a dramatic impact on the health, safety
  and welfare of workers
• cause significant economic and social costs to
  the victim, their family, the business in which
  they work and the wider community

5

• The Guidance for the Prevention of Stress and
  Violence at Workplace published by Department of
  Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH ) in 2001
  to overcome this problem under the Occupational
  Safety and Health Act 1994
• designed to help employers, employees and their
  representatives identify the potential for
  violence at work and to provide practical
  guidance for the development of risk reduction
  strategies

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Other Laws

• Britain ? main legislations concerning workplace
  violence can be found in the Employment Relations
  Act 1999 and, the Health and Safety at Work Act
  1974
• New Zealand ? Health and Safety in Employment Act
  1992 is published to develop a guide for
  employers and employees alike on how to handle
  workplace violence
• United States ? Occupational Safety and Health
  Administration (OSHA), an official body that
  identify the hazards of workplace violence

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• International Labour Organisation (ILO) ?
  workplace violence is not exclusively a Western
  phenomenon? become a global concern
• European countries such as France and Romania
  head the list of countries in which the frequency
  of incidents of workplace violence is reported to
  be the highest (McNamee, 1998)

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• Based on the ILO survey, workplace violence has
  not yet reached an alarming situation in
  Malaysia, but this is not to deny its existence
  in Malaysian
• Cases of aggression and violence in various
• workplaces in Peninsular Malaysia

Source Labour Department
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• 1996 ? 568 reported cases of aggression and
  violence in various workplaces in Peninsular
  Malaysia.
• The same source also indicated a rise in the
  number of reported cases between 1997 and 1998.
• 1997 ? 427
• 1998 ? 676
• Between 1990 and 1998 ? almost 4,000 cases of
  violence and aggression filed at the Industrial
  Courts
• Highest number of incidents recorded between 1997
  and 1998
• The violent behaviours that have been reported to
  the Labour Department include cases of sabotage,
  fighting at work, threat, assault, and
  harassment.

Source David Kanagaraj, personal
communication, 22 February 2000
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Definition
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• Any action, incident or behaviour that departs
  from reasonable conduct in which a person is
  assaulted, threatened, harmed, injured in the
  course of, or as a direct result 1 of, his or her
  work.
• Internal workplace violence
• is that which takes place between workers,
  including managers and supervisors.
• External workplace violence
• is that which takes place between workers (and
  managers and supervisors) and any other person
  present at the workplace.

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• DOSH
• Incidents where employees are abused, threatened,
  assaulted or subject to other offensive behaviour
  incircumstances related to their work
• NIOSH
• violent acts, including physical assaults and
  threats of assault, directed toward persons at
  work or on duty

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• WHO
• The intentional use of power, threatened or
  actual, against another person or against a
  group, in work-related circumstances, that either
  results in or has a high degree of likelihood of
  resulting in injury, death, psychological harm,
  maldevelopment, or deprivation

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Types Of Violence at work Place
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Table 1. Typology of workplace violence Table 1. Typology of workplace violence
Type Description
I Criminal intent The perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the business or its employee Usually committing a crime in conjunction with the violence. Eg robbery, shoplifting, trespassing, and terrorism.
II Customer/client The perpetrator has a legitimate relationship with the business Becomes violent while being served by the business. Includes customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, and any other group for which the business provides services. Worker who may be exposed Police officers, prison staff, flight attendants, etc.
III Worker-on-worker The perpetrator is an employee or past employee of the business Attacks or threatens another employee(s) or past employee(s) in the workplace.
IV Personal relationship The perpetrator has a personal relationship with the intended victim. Includes victims of domestic violence assaulted or threatened while at work.
Sources CAL/OSHA 1995 Howard 1996 IPRC 2001. Sources CAL/OSHA 1995 Howard 1996 IPRC 2001.
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• Assault/Attack
• Threat
• Abuse
• Harassment
• Sexual harassment
• Bullying/Mobbing

SOURCE OSHA GUIDANCE FOR THE PREVENTION OF
STRESS AND VIOLENCE AT THE WORKPLACE
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Assault/Attack

• Attempt at physical injury or attack on a person
  leading to actual physical harm.
• Example
• Beating
• Kicking
• Slapping

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Threat

• The deliberate verbal or written expression or
  other specific implication of intent to inflict
  bodily injury, death or other harmful results
  that a reasonable person would perceive as a
  danger to the personal safety of themselves or
  others.
• Types of threat
• Veiled involves reference to a violence act and
  an association with the present situation
• Conditional contain words such as if or or
  and references a violent act with the condition
• Direct warning of a pending violent act.

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Abuse

• Behaviour that departs from reasonable conduct
• Involves the misuse of physical and psychological
  strength.
• Includes
• Harassment
• Bullying
• Mobbing.

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Harassment

• Any unwelcome verbal, written or physical
  conduct that either denigrates or shows hostility
  or aversion towards a person on the basis of
  race, sex, color, national origin, religion,
  sexual orientation, age, veteran status,
  political affiliation, or disability.
• has the purpose or effect of creating an
  intimidating, hostile or offensive work
  environment
• has the purpose or effect of unreasonably
  interfering with an employee's work performance
• affects an employee's employment opportunities or
  compensation.

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Sexual harassment

• Sexual conduct that is unwanted, unwelcome, or
  unsolicited.
• Includes requests for sexual favours which are
  inappropriate and offensive.
• Categories
• Sexual coercion/ Quid pro quo results in some
  direct consequence to the victims employment.
• Example A superior (has the power over salary)
  attempts to coerce a subordinate to grant sexual
  favours.
• If accedes-gtjob benefits will follow.
• if refuses-gtjob benefits are denied.

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• Sexual annoyance/Hostile environment
  sexually-related conduct that is offensive,
  hostile or intimidating to the recipient, but
  has no direct link to any job benefit.
• The annoying conduct creates a bothersome working
  environment which the recipient has to tolerate
  in order to continue working.

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• Form of Sexual harassment
• verbal harassment  e.g. offensive or suggestive
  remarks, comments and jokes
• non-verbal/gestural harassment  e.g. hand signal
  or sign language denoting sexual activity.
• visual harassment  e.g. showing pornographic
  materials, drawing sex-based sketches.
• psychological  e.g. repeated unwanted social
  invitations, relentless proposals for dates or
  physical intimacy.
• physical harassment  e.g. inappropriate
  touching, patting, pinching, stroking, brushing
  up against the body, hugging, kissing, fondling,
  sexual assault.

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Bullying/Mobbing

• Repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or
  a group) directed towards an employee (or a group
  of employees), which is intended to intimidate
  and creates a risk to the health and safety of
  the employee(s).
• Often involves an abuse or misuse of power.
• Bullying includes
• Behaviour that intimidates, degrades, offends, or
  humiliates a worker, often in front of others.
• Creates feelings of defencelessness in the target
  and undermines an individuals right to dignity
  at work.

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Risk factor for violence at work place
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• There are many factors that can lead to violence.
  
• There are consists of three factor that
  contribute to the violence at work place.
• The factor are Individual factors, Environmental
  Factors, Social and cultural factors.
• Some of the other factors include anxiety,
  vulnerability, and low morale.

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1) Individual factors

• History of violence
• Such as an individual with a documented history
  of violent or aggressive behavior. For example,
  you as a supervisor, may get a new employee in
  your workforce who had to be moved from his/her
  past job because of exhibiting violent or
  aggressive behavior toward a former coworker
• b) Hate group membership
• Such as an individual who expresses his or her
  severe prejudices by being a member of a "hate
  group." This person is at risk of responding to
  the groups actions, including perpetrating
  violence at members of the target group. 

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• c) Evidence of psychosis
• Such as an individual who holds false beliefs
  about people and their motives have
  conversations with him/herself or, who's
  appearance becomes disheveled over a period of
  time. 
• d) Depression
• Such as a usually outgoing and good spirited
  person who becomes withdrawn, unusually quiet,
  and/or exhibits extreme signs of stress. 

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• e) Pathological blamer
• Such as a worker who continually says, "I'm not a
  fault" and will not accept responsibility. 
• f) Elevated frustration
• Such as an individual who refuses to come to work
  and complains about everything. 
• g) Interest in weapons
• Such as a person who displays obsessive interest
  in weapons or explosives through informal
  discussions and mannerisms. 
• h) Chemical dependence
• Someone who displays signs such as being late for
  work, being unable to get along with co-workers,
  even though you may not know he/she has a
  chemical dependence. 

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• i) Time spent at work
• Length of time at work was able to predict
  workplace aggression such that the longer hours a
  person worked, the more likely they were to
  report aggression. Two possible reasons are
• First, the more hours worked, the greater
  statistical probability of being victimized.
• Second, longer hours worked could contribute to
  fatigue and frustration. This in turn may
  increase the likelihood of aggressive actions
  towards co-workers.

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• j) Gender
• Gender has been shown to be a significant
  predictor of workplace aggression. For example,
  being male has been shown to be significantly
  related to reports of aggression against
  supervisors. Furthermore, males are more likely
  to commit aggressive acts in the presence of
  other men. Females, on the other hand, are no
  more likely to act aggressively in either the
  presence of females or males.

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• k) Age
• Age is significantly related to aggression. In
  their study of age and job performance, Ng and
  Feldman (2008) found that older workers (age 40
  or older) engaged in less workplace aggression
  than younger workers.
• l) Alcohol consumption
• The frequency and amount of alcohol typically
  consumed by a person predicts aggressive
  behavior. Those who consume more alcohol more
  frequently are more likely to aggress against a
  coworker (Greenberg Barling, 1999).

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2) Environmental Factors

• The following attributes can create a "toxic work
  environment" within an organization which can
  worse ill feelings among employees and military
  members and can lead to an increased potential
  for violence. Many times, supervisors are
  responsible for bring up this environment. 

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• Existence of hostile or threatening work
  environment
• - Allowing aggressive conduct, the existence of
  hostile or threatening work environment to
  persist under your supervision, or ignoring and
  taking no action for thefts, fights, sexual or
  racial harassment, intimidation or other
  behaviors viewed as hostile by employees. 
• b) Highly authoritarian management style
• - This can cause feelings of oppression and
  frustration among workers. 

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• c) Lack of employee participation in the decision
  making process
• - Workers feel they are merely "assembly line
• workers" and have no contribution to the
• direction of the organization.

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3) Social factors

• a) Workplace changes
• Certain changes in the work environment can lead
  to increased aggression which they attributed to
  heightened anxiety and stress. Specifically,
  changes in management, increased monitoring
  systems (e.g., increased computer monitoring),
  increased diversity, and the increased use of
  part-time employees all were related to higher
  levels of workplace aggression.

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• b) Adverse economic conditions
• - Stress increases significantly during times of
  economic upheaval. Financial problems at any age
  may trigger negative survival responses from
  employees and result in unpredictable behavior.
• c) Organization justice
• Perceived interpersonal justice, the degree to
  which people feel they are treated with fairness
  and respect, is negatively related to both
  psychological and physical aggression against
  supervisors (Dupre Barling, 2006).

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• d) Supervision and surveillance
• Workplace surveillance (employee monitoring) is
  positively related to workplace aggression
  against supervisors, such that the greater the
  number of employee surveillance methods used, the
  greater the amount of workplace aggression .
• Furthermore, supervisory control over work
  performance has also been shown to be positively
  related to workplace aggression against
  supervisors.

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• f) Job-specific characteristics
• Other antecedents of workplace aggression found
  in the literature are specific job
  characteristics. LeBlanc and Kelloway (2002)
  found that certain job features, such as handling
  guns or collecting valuable items, were
  significantly more related to workplace
  aggression.

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JOB AT RISK VIOLENCE
41
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND
HEALTH

• Such a finding is further corroborated by
  previous studies which have documented a number
  of factors that may increase a worker's risk for
  workplace assault (Di Martino Masri, 2001
  NIOSH, 1996), which include
• Contact with the public
• Exchange of money
• Delivery of passengers, goods, and services
• Working alone or in small numbers, and
• Guarding valuable property or possessions.

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HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE
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• Employees whose job requires them to deal with
  the public can be at risk from violence. Most at
  risk are those who are engaged in
• Giving a service
• Caring
• Education
• Cash transactions
• Delivery / collection
• Controlling
• Representing authority

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Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

• Certain occupational groups tend to be more at
  risk from workplace violence. These occupations
  include
• Health care employees
• Correctional officers
• Social services employees
• Teachers
• Municipal housing inspectors
• Public works employees, and
• Retail employees.

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CORRECTIONAL OFFICER

• Working in a correctional institution can be
  stressful and hazardous.
• Every year, correctional officers are injured in
  confrontations with inmates.
• Correctional officers and jailers have one of the
  highest rates of nonfatal on-the-job injuries.
• First-line supervisors/managers of correctional
  officers also face the risk of work-related
  injury. Correctional officers may work indoors or
  outdoors.
• Some correctional institutions are well lighted,
  temperature controlled, and ventilated, but
  others are old, overcrowded, hot, and noisy.

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Correctional officers inspect mail and visitors
for prohibited items.
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SOCIAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES

• Child, family, and school social workers
• provide social services and assistance to improve
  the social and psychological functioning of
  children and their families.
• Medical and public health social workers
• provide psychosocial support to individuals,
  families, or vulnerable populations so they can
  cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses,
  such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, or AIDS.
• Mental health and substance abuse social workers
• - assess and treat individuals with mental
  illness or substance abuse problems. Such
  services include individual and group therapy,
  outreach, crisis intervention, social
  rehabilitation, and teaching skills needed for
  everyday living.

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Social workers help people resolve issues in
their lives
49
Risk factors for work related violence in a
health care organizationM J Findorff1, P M
McGovern1, M Wall2, S G Gerberich1, B Alexander1

• Violence is the third most common cause of
  occupational death in the United States and the
  second leading cause for working women,
  accounting for 639 work related homicides in
  2001,1 and nearly two million acts of non-fatal
  work related violence annually.2 Health care
  workers are at increased risk of non-fatal work
  related violence.35 Most studies addressing
  health care workers have focused on one
  occupation, nursing.6,7 Injury rates per 100 000
  persons per year, based on workers compensation
  claims for selected health care occupations,
  included registered nurses (27), licensed
  practical nurses (88), medical managers (116),
  occupational therapists (222), nursing aides
  (289), and health aides (457), compared with an
  overall rate of 16.7 The vast majority of
  physical violence in health care is perpetrated
  by patients or clients.4,813

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• Wed, 26/09/2007 - 0922
• Ministers are being urged to make retail crime a
  higher priority after new figures revealed an
  increase in threats and acts of violence against
  shop workers.
• The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said
  incidents of physical violence against store
  staff have risen by 50 per cent over the past
  year, while threats of violence have more than
  doubled during the same period. Incidents per
  store also shot up by 18 per cent with verbal
  abuse episodes showing a six per cent hike.

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Work related factors increase the risk of
violence.

• Certain work factors, process, and interactions
  can put people at increased risk from workplace
  violence. For example
• Working with the public
• Handling money, valuables or prescription drugs
  (cashiers, pharmacists)
• Carrying out inspection or enforcement duties
  (government employees)
• Providing service, care, advice or education
  (health care staff, teachers)
• Working with unstable or volatile persons (social
  services, or criminal justice system employees)

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• Working in premises where alcohol is served (food
  and beverage staff)
• Working alone, in small numbers (store clerks,
  real estate agents), or in isolated or low
  traffic areas (washrooms, storage areas, utility
  rooms)
• Working in community-based settings (nurses,
  social workers and other home visitors)
• Having a mobile workplace (taxicab)
• Working during periods of intense organizational
  change (strikes, downsizing)

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• Risk of violence may be greater at certain times
  of the day, night or years. For example
• late hours of the night or early hours of the
  morning
• Christmas
• pay days
• report cards or parent interviews, and
• performance appraisals.

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• Risk of violence may increase depending on the
  geographic location of the workplace. For
  example
• Near buildings or businesses that are at risk of
  violent crime (bars, banks)
• In areas isolated from other buildings or
  structures.

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• Wednesday, 10 February 2010 1353
• KUALA LUMPUR -Azman Bahar (not his real name), in
  his late 20s and an administrative assistant in a
  private firm.
• "I have been burdened with loads of difficult
  tasks by my superior officer. Even though my
  colleagues share the same responsibilities, I was
  the one who became the 'victim'.
• "It is a rare occasion for me to leave office the
  moment the clock showed six in the evening,
  unlike my co-workers. Usually I am only able to
  leave at about 8pm. After completing a task,
  immediately I would be given another bundle of
  files even though the other workers are quite
  free," he told this writer.
• Azman also complained that it was difficult for
  him to obtain leave. "Even when I showed a
  medical certificate, many questions were hurled
  back with some degree of sceptism," he said.

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THE MEDICAL NEWS
from News-Medical.Net - Latest Medical News and
Research from Around the World
Majority of nurses experience workplace
violence 3rd February 2010 0459 Three-quarters
of nurses providing private and public care
experienced workplace violence, but only one in
six incidents were formally reported, according
to study published in the February issue of the
Journal of Clinical Nursing. The majority (92)
said they had been verbally abused, 69 had been
physically threatened and 52 had been
physically assaulted. A total of 2,354 incidents
were reported to the research team, with nurses
facing an average of two to 46 incidents a year.
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prevention
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Prevention

• It is essential that action be undertaken at
  different levels to prevent this from happening-
• primary level? identify and address problems at
  the level of the organization and the environment
• secondary level? interventions can be developed
  to help individual employees or groups of
  employees coping with stress and violence
• tertiary level? assistance can be provided to
  employees who have been subject to violence to
  recover from it.
• Developing a "quality" workplace culture
• Environmental intervention
• Organisational intervention
• Intervention on the individual

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Developing a "quality" workplace culture

• An "open" working.
• An organisational culture based on tolerance,
  equal opportunities and cooperation
• Issuing a clear policy statement-
• a declaration indicating a real commitment to
  make the issue of violence a real priority in the
  organisation
• a caution stating that no violent behaviour or
  behaviour intentionally generating stress will be
  tolerated
• an engagement in support of any action targeted
  at creating a stress and violence- free
  environment
• a directive stating that supervisors and managers
  have a positive duty to implement the policy and
  to demonstrate leadership by example.

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Environmental intervention

• Improving The General Environment
• physical features of a workplace can be a factor
  in either defusing or acting as a potential
  trigger for stress and violence.
• Special attention should be given to the level
  and ways in which employees are exposed to reduce
  or eliminate any negative impact-
• noise
• odours
• illumination
• temperature
• humidity
• ventilation
• dust
• vibrations
• dangerous substances

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• In the specific context of possible violence and
  aggression in the workplace, especially those
  open to the public, the design of workplaces
  requires special attention and involves the
  following additional factors-
• crowding
• comfort of seating which is crucial
• especially where waiting is involved
• comfort and size of waiting rooms
• toilet facilities
• controlled entrances
• alarms
• security guards
• protective barriers
• surveillance cameras and
• systems to alert other employees that urgent help
  is needed

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• Improving The Workstation Design
• design of the workstation is of fundamental
  importance in providing employees with
  comfortable working conditions.
• It is recommended to use the following checklists
  to identify relevant aspects in the arrangements
  of workplaces and of work seating-
• Guidelines For The Arrangements of Workplace
• Guidelines For The Work Seating
• Improving The Interface Man / New Technology
• For a stress and violence-free introduction of
  new technology it is important that-
• new technology is introduced in a phased way
• new technology is spread by successful examples,
  starting with critical applications and
  demonstrable benefits
• new technology is introduced through a large
  involvement of those concerned and largely based
  on consensus
• new technology is introduced discretely'
  according to the real needs of organisations and
  their employees
• pace of work, working arrangements and pauses are
  human-tailored rather than technology-driven.

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Organisational intervention

• Changing work practices
• Organizational solutions can help in reducing the
  risks of exposure to criminal attack? changing
  the job or system of work.
• Improving job content
• tasks performed are identifiable as whole units
  of a job rather than fragments
• jobs make a significant contribution to the
  total operations of the organisation which can be
  understood by the worker
• sufficient feedback on task performance and
  opportunities for the development of staff skills
  is provided
• jobs are enriched with a wider variety of tasks
• job planning is improved
• overload is not excessive
• pace of work is not excessive

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• Re-arranging working time
• adapt the length of working time to the workload
• avoid the massive recourse to overtime
• provide adequate rest pauses
• create autonomous or semi-autonomous teams
  dealing with their own working time arrangements
• keep working time schedules regular and
  predictable
• arrange, as far as possible, shift schedules so
  that shifts are rotated rapidly, in a forward
  fashion, and that the longest period of rest
  should follow the night shift
• keep, as far as possible, consecutive night
  shifts to a minimum
• Circulation of Best Practices
• production of case studies concise way
• creation of networks among organisations with
  interest in similar issues
• organisation of informal visits and meetings
  among the parties concerned
• informal communication via web and electronic
  newsletters. creation of networks among
  organisations with interest in similar issues

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Intervention on the individual

• Selection
• Selection may help in identifying those
  individuals who are more tailored to certain
  jobs, less likely to get stressed, frustrated or
  angered because of it, and consequently less
  prone to violent workplace responses.
• Although selection may have an important bearing
  in terms of stress and violence prevention it
  should be used and interpreted with care and
  caution.
• Training and education
• Regular and updated training is essential
  violence prevention.
• communication skills which defuse and prevent a
  potentially threatening situation
• developing competence in the particular function
  to be performed improving the ability to
  identify potentially stressful and violent
  situations
• preparing a "core group" of mature and specially
  competent staff who can take responsibility for
  more complicated interactions
• Guidelines? identify the special training needs
  and skills required preventing
  violence

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• Fitness
• Maintaining physical fitness and emotionally
  stable psychic conditions
• Counseling
• This should be carried out periodically and, in
  particular, on occasion of high emotional stress
  and violent situations.
• Debriefing
• Involves meetings among staff and as many people
  as possible who are concerned in the stressful or
  violent situation.
• This will give employees who suffer from victims
  of violence an opportunity to let out their
  feelings and to share their experience with
  others.
• External consultants may also be involved in
  debriefing activities.

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conclusion
68

• Violence at the workplace is becoming an
  increasingly worrying phenomenon.
• Many organizations including health system have
  acknowledged the existence of the problems but
  there are yet many others which throw a blind eye
  to the problems.
• We all need to build a safe and just working
  environment
• If employers and employees practicing the
  guidance for the prevention of stress and
  violence at the workplace, we can reduce this
  problem.

69
References

• (OSHA)GUIDANCE FORE THE PREVENTATION OF STRESS
  AND VIOLENCE AT THE WORKPLACE. (2001). Retrieved
  3 29, 2010, from Department of Safety and Health
  Malaysia.
• Workplace Violence Prevention Strategies and
  Research Needs. (2006). Retrieved 04 01, 2010,
  from NIOSH http//www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2006-144
  / 
• Workplace Violence. (1998, 12). Retrieved 03 30,
  2010, from The U.S. Department of Agriculture
  (USDA) http//www.usda.gov/news/pubs/violence/wp
  v.htm 
• http//www.tssa.org.uk/article-47.php3?id_article
  1385
• http//unionsafe.labor.net.au/hazards/107172361088
  49.html
• http//www.wao.org.my/research/sexual_harassment.h
  tm

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Thank you