Chapter 26 - § 26.3 • DEFINING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND ITS INCREASING PREVALENCE

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 26.3 • DEFINING WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AND ITS INCREASING PREVALENCE

§ 26.3.1—Creating A Workable Definition

In view of the enormous costs of workplace violence, defining "workplace violence" generates considerable discussion. Some organizations define the term broadly to include any language or actions that make one person uncomfortable in the workplace, while others define it as physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse. According to NIOSH, the spectrum of workplace violence ranges from offensive language to homicide. A reasonable working definition is:

Any act against an employee that creates a hostile work environment and negatively affects the employee, either physically or psychologically. These acts include all types of physical or verbal assaults, threats, coercion, intimidation, and all forms of harassment.

S. Kaufer and J. W. Mattman, Workplace Violence: An Employer's Guide (Workplace Violence Research Institute, 2001).

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's monograph on workplace violence published in 2003, workplace violence generally is perpetrated by the following individuals: (1) criminals who have no connection with the workplace, but enter the workplace to commit a crime; (2) those individuals who interact with employees, such as customers, clients, patients, students, and inmates; (3) current or former employees; and (4) individuals who have a personal relationship with an employee — for example, an abusive or domestic partner. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Workplace Violence: Issues in Response (U.S. DOJ, 2003). This informative document is available at www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/workplace-violence. According to one study, of all physical attacks occurring on the job, 44 percent were by customers or clients, 30 percent by coworkers or former employees, 24 percent by strangers, and 3 percent by someone else. Hicks, "Workplace Violence: Reducing the Risk," 3 Nev. Law. 14 (July 1995). In addition to the traditional internal workplace threats, the FBI now recognizes that America's workplaces must consider the external threat of terrorism. Remarks of FBI Director Mueller, Workplace Violence: Issues in Response (U.S. DOJ, 2003). Strangers committed the greatest proportion of nonfatal workplace violence against males (53 percent) and females (41 percent) between 2005 and 2009. U.S. DOJ, Workplace Violence, 1993-2009, BJS (March 2011).

Workplace violence inflicted by co-employees includes fighting, assaults, threatening behaviors, harassing behaviors, stalking, inappropriate communications, telephone harassment, graffiti, and rape. Certain violent episodes appear to signify specific attacks on the workplace authority, rather than random acts of violence. For example, in December 2000, an employee at Edgewater Technology, Inc. became upset and engaged in an argument with the accounting department...