There are many definitions that describe workplace violence, the one that was most accurate was written by Jon Richards. He defined workplace violence as “Incidents where staff are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to their work, including commuting to and from work, involving an explicit or implicit challenge to their safety, well-being or health”. Workplace violence includes not only physical but also non-physical violence. For example; workplace violence includes physical assault, homicide, robbery, verbal abuse, bullying/mobbing, swearing, shouting, sexual and racial harassment, name calling, threats, interfering with work tools and equipment.”(Richards 2003). Throughout this paper, it will discuss many aspects of workplace violence such as the pattern/ trends, increasing/ decreasing, the offenders/ victims, the causes and correlations, and the investigations of different policies for reducing workplace violence.
There are various patterns and trends that occur when it comes to workplace violence. For instance,situations as moving money with the public and working with unpredictable people. Working alone or in isolated areas may also contribute to the potential for violence. Working where alcohol is served may also impact the probability of violence. In addition, time of day and location of work, such as working late at night or in areas with high crime rates, are also risk factors of workplace violence. Those with higher risk are workers who exchange money with the public. For example delivery drivers, healthcare professionals, public service workers, customer service agents, law enforcement personnel, and those who work alone or in small groups. In addition to the situations listed ...
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Workplace violence . (2012). Retrieved from http://www.victimsofcrime.org/library/crime-information-and-statistics/workplace-violence
Harrell, E. (2011, March). Workplace violence,1993-2009 national crime victimization survey and the census of fatal occupational injuries. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/wv09.pdf
Haynes, M. (2013, April 13). Workplace violence: Why every state must adopt a comprehensive workplace violence prevention law. Retrieved from http://www.cornellhrreview.org/workplace-violence-why-every-state-must-adopt-a-comprehensive-workplace-violence-prevention-law/
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Domestic violence affects the victim physically often times causing injuries that could lead to hospitalization or death, psychologically involving gaining control over the victim as well, and socially by isolating them from family and friends. When we think of the effects of domestic violence it becomes clear that it not only affects the victim and the family but as in recent years, the violence can spill beyond the walls of the home into the neighborhood and the workplace resulting in what has become more and more common, domestic violence related workplace shootings. Domestic v...
The majority of the articles reviewed found that education on regcognizing and addressing lateral violence was the key to decreasing the its incidence. The difference in the articles is when the education should take place; Ebrahimi, Negarandeh, Jeffrey, and Azizi, (2016) conducted a study on experienced nurses who either committed workplace violence or had witnessed it against new nurses. The small interview style study consisted of questions discussing why the participants felt the violence occurred on new nurses. At the conclusion this study reccommended preparing the experienced nurse on how to support the new nurses, providing education to the new nurses on how to deal with workplace violence, and should problems arise how to help the staff resolve
Now a days, in the healthcare field the nurses are known to prevent, promote and improve the health and abilities of patients, families and communities. It is very heartbreaking to hear that in this honorable profession exists violence, bullying which is among not only nurses but also other healthcare professionals. According to the article, Reducing Violence Against Nurses: The Violence Prevention Community Meeting, violence is defined as any verbal or physical behavior resulting in, or intended to result in, physical or physiological injury, pain, or harm. In the healthcare field the term that is used when there is violence between coworkers is called horizontal violence. This is a term that is continued to be used but some hospitals have replaced it with the terms bullying or lateral violence. Horizontal violence is violence between nurses and it explains the behavior nurses have toward their coworkers and other healthcare professionals. This type of violence interferes with working together as a team and communicating between coworkers, which are things that are needed to promote and care for others.
Many registered nurses define horizontal violence differently because being a nurse they have seen many type of horizontal violence throughout his or her career. Horizontal violence defined as bullying or mistreatment of a group or individual physically, verbally and psychologically (Ahrens, 2012). Some examples that would be consider physical would be sexual misconduct. Verbal violence would be rude comments or cussing at one author. In addition, to psychological violence would include being fussed at in front of patients and or their families by a co-worker for doing something wrong and nurses purposely withholding information from another nurse, which causes patient’s needs not to be met. The horizontal violence in the work place puts lots of stress on nurses especially registered nurses (R.N.) . Nurses who tolerate horizontal violence tend to have depression, low self-esteem, missed days from work, become fatigued, burnout, causes hospitals, or clinics to have nurse ret...
Pam Criss's article in the Journal of Social Work Education, titled Effects of Client Violence on Social Work Students: A National Study shows results on the effects of direct and indirect client violence against a random sample of MSW and BSW students from the National Association of Social Works in the United State. This study looks at how workplace violence is a concern for social work students entering their field placement. These types of violence may be a major factor in the student’s choice of decreased commitment to the occupation. One act of violence can lead the student to fear more acts of violence. In addition, it looks at how a social worker can be affected vicariously by hearing of colleagues being harmed or threatened. Furthermore, a relationship between violence in the work place and the social worker deciding to leave the workplace because of decreased effective organizational commitment due to the negative effects of stress and burnout is also shown (Criss, 2010)
This has become a serious concern and companies now have to take a stand to protect their employees as well as the organization. Workplace violence can have a damaging effect on a company. A company can suffer serious implications if they don’t introduce policies in the workplace that protect employees from becoming a target. Families affected can sue a company for not having proper procedures in place to protect their loved ones. Millions are paid out every year to compensate for the damages incurred.
Co-workers can be affected by workplace violence by being put in a situation that makes working difficult or uncomfortable for them. This can affect their attendance to go to work every day, or even getting their tasks done efficiently. If the abuse is coming from a superior such as a boss or manager, it can make the employee fearful, stressed out and even anxious. They could be worried they’ll lose their employment for no reason at all, or even make them feel as though their workplace is unbearable. In the workplace the manager should be the one leading and helping the employees succeed. If the manager is hurtful towards their employees, through words or actions, they are not only harming the employee but also damaging the efficiency and productivity of the office as a whole. They damage their office in such a respect because the harm inflicted upon the employee effects their working progress negatively. As a whole the abuser in most workplace violence situations can be looked at as the ‘manager’. They are the one managing and controlling the situation in a negative
In the early 1980s aggression and violence in the workplace have been a source of a lot of public discussion. (Piquero pg.383) The issues have risen again recently and have mostly been present in management and business fields. Workplace aggression often includes “behavior by an individual or individuals within or outside organizations that is intended to physically or psychologically harms a worker or workers and occurs in a work related”. (Schat& Kelloway Pg. 191) A national survey Conducted by the National Centers for Victims of Crime shows several statistics regarding workplace homicide by type show that is the year of (see fig. 1), violent crimes against victims working or an duty( see fig. 2) and nonfatal workplace violence committed by strangers(see fig. 3
Nurses encounter various challenges in the workplace. One of the most alarming trends is that they often become the victims of physical violence. It should be kept in mind that healthcare settings account for about 60 percent of all violent assaults that occur in various American workplaces (Gates, Gillespie, & Succop, 2011, p. 59). Additionally, more than 50 percent of nurses report that they suffered from physical abuse, at least once (Gates et al., 2011, p. 60). In turn, this tendency makes nurses even more vulnerable to the effects of stress. Moreover, they are likely to feel dissatisfied with their jobs. This paper is aimed at reviewing the scholarly articles that can illustrate the origins of this problem and its impacts on the experiences
Workplace bullying is defined as any as any type of repetitive abuse in which the victim of the bullying behaviour suffers verbal abuse, threats, humiliating or intimidating behaviours, or behaviours that interfere with his or her job performance and are meant to place at risk the health and safety of the victim (Murray, 2009). Bullying can take many forms, some blatant, others more subtle. Researchers ha...
Tjaden, P., Thoennes, N. (2000b). Full report of the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
Therefore, this position statement is relevant because these abuses can be seen in day-to-day healthcare environment. The effects of violence in nursing can be harmful to the proper function within a workplace. It can be damaging to the nursing profession and patient care. According to (Johnston et al., 2010, p.36), workplace violence is “spreading like a ‘superbug.’” Studies have shown, that lateral violence, nurse-on-nurse, has been one of the highest incidence of violence within the workplace. Also, statistics have shown that lateral violence has one of the most emotional impacts on an individual. This will be further discussed below. For these reasons, it is important for healthcare workers to validate the detrimental effects violence can have in the workplace, and be prepared to combat and prevent workplace violence.
Vessey, J., Demarco, R., & DiFazio, R. (2010). Bullying, harassment, and horizontal violence in the nursing workforce: The state of the science. Annual Review Of Nursing Research, 28, 133-157. doi:10.1891/0739-6686.28.133
Workplace violence is any action or verbal menacing with the intent to inflict physical or psychological violence on others. The US Department of Labor defines workplace violence as “An action (verbal, written, or physical aggression) which is intended to control or cause, or is capable of causing, death or serious bodily injury to oneself or others, or damage to property. Workplace violence includes abusive behavior toward authority, intimidating or harassing behavior, and threats.”("Definitions," n.d.)
Glazer, S. (1996, July 19). Crackdown on sexual harassment. CQ Researcher, 6, 625-648. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/