Chapter 26 - § 26.2 • WORKPLACE VIOLENCE STATISTICS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 26.2 • WORKPLACE VIOLENCE STATISTICS

§ 26.2.1—Numbers Of People Injured

The Department of Justice (DOJ) National Criminal Victimization Survey shows that each year approximately 1.7 million people in the United States become victims of violent crime while working or on duty, and more than 800 employees die each year as a result of workplace violence. BJS 2001, supra. A survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Labor for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Prevention, and Department of Health and Human Services (BLS 2005) determined that nearly 5 percent of the 7.4 million private industry establishments experienced at least one or more incidents of workplace violence in 2005. When factoring out the businesses that have fewer than 1,000 employees, the percentage increases to 50 percent of establishments experiencing one or more incidents of workplace violence in one year's time. M. McElhaney, "DOL Releases Its 2005 Violence Prevention Survey," 5 The Critical Responder 1 (June 2007). Furthermore, the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated in 2001 that approximately 29,000 acts of rape or sexual assault occur each year in the workplace.

The BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reported 14,770 workplace homicide victims between 1992 and 2012. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Occupational Violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), available at www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/violence. The rate of violent crime against employed persons has declined since 1993. U.S. DOJ, Workplace Violence, 1993-2009, BJS (March 2011). From 2002 to 2009, the rate of nonfatal workplace violence declined by 35 percent, following a 62 percent decline in the rate from 1993 to 2002. Id.

Service-providing industries report a much higher percentage of criminal, customer, and domestic violence than goods-producing industries. Survey of Workplace Violence, USDL News Release, October 27, 2006, available at www.bls.gov/iif/osh_wpvs.htm. "Workers who exchange money with the public; deliver passengers, goods, or services; or work alone or in small groups, during late night or early morning hours, in high-crime areas, or in community settings and homes where they have extensive contact with the public" are at greater risk for workplace violence. OSHA, Fact Sheet on Workplace Violence (2002). Those at greatest risk for workplace victimization are those individuals in law enforcement and in...