SLC 2016: More than 60,000 Workers Per Day Are Harassed or Are the Victims of Workplace Violence

The article, “SLC 2016: More than 60,000 Workers Per Day Are Harassed or Are the Victims of Workplace Violence,” featured in EHS Today, addressed why employers need to create programs to address workplace violence given the fact that on a daily basis 43,800 employees are harassed; 16,400 threatened, and 723 workers are attacked.

With the proliferation of violence everywhere, including the workplace, safety experts need to understand the scope of the issue explained Tracy L. Moon, Jr. and Steven Loewengart at the Safety Leadership Conference 2016 held recently.

“You didn’t think you would have to be dealing with these types of issues, including people threatening to commit suicide,” Steven told the audience of safety experts.

But they need to, said Steven, given the level of violence. On a daily basis, 43,800 employees are harassed, 16,400 threatened and 723 workers are attacked according to research from the Workplace Violence Research Institute.

The concept of harassment is somewhat new. “Workplace violence has a broader view that includes threatening to hurt someone,” said Steven. 

 He defined workplace violence as against any employee that creates a hostile work environment and negatively affects the employee physically or psychologically. This could include: physical or verbal assault, threats, coercion, intimidation and harassment.

To read the full article, please visit EHS Today.