• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • WCW HOME
  • Submit a Wire!
  • Advertising
  • Media Partners
  • About
  • Contact Us

WorkCompWire

trusted source for workers compensation news

  • Workers Compensation News
    • Workers Compensation Industry News
    • Association, Rating & Research News
    • Claims, Legal, & Compliance News
    • Legislative & Regulatory News
    • Risk Management News
    • Work Force & Human Resource News
  • Featured Articles
  • Leaders Speak
  • Editor’s Forum
  • People On The Move
  • Resources

NCCI Releases Research on Violence in the Workplace

January 24, 2012 by WorkCompWire

Florida – Workplace homicides “are not crimes of passion committed by disgruntled coworkers and spouses, but rather result from robberies.” And the majority of workplace assaults are committed by healthcare patients.

A new report examines the many aspects of work-related homicides and injuries due to assaults, and extends a series of studies published by NCCI on workplace violence with three years of additional data through 2009.

Key Findings

  • Work-related homicides and injuries due to workplace assaults remain well below levels observed in the mid-1990s. This is consistent with the patterns of declines in rates of homicide and aggravated assaults reported for the country as a whole, although workplace homicides have declined more than the homicide rate generally, while workplace assaults have fallen in line with declines in aggravated assaults overall.
  • Homicides account for 11% of workplace fatalities. Nonfatal assaults by persons make up less than 2% of total nonfatal lost work-time (LWT) injuries and illnesses, but that share has been increasing.
  • Homicides due to robberies and similar criminal acts fell markedly over the late 1990s (but still make up 69% of all homicides), due largely to the decline in the homicide incidence rate for taxi drivers. The work-related homicide rates for these workers are now comparable to those for high-risk retail workers such as service station attendants and barbers.
  • In contrast, homicides committed by work associates (a Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] category made up of both coworkers and customers) have increased to about 21%. Interestingly, this reflects an increase in violent acts by customers to 9%. Despite the headlines, the share of workplace homicides due to coworkers has remained steady at about 12%, and the actual number of such homicides has been in the 50 to 60 range in recent years.
  • The decline in the rate of workplace assaults has lagged the steady decline in the rate for all lost work-time injuries and illnesses. This reflects a notable change in the composition of the US workforce and, in particular, the ongoing increase in the share of healthcare workers, who experience remarkably high rates of injuries due to assaults by patients. This is especially common in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. In fact, 61% of all workplace assaults are committed by healthcare patients. For assaults, coworkers make up just 7%, and someone other than a healthcare patient or coworker comprises 23%. The remainder is unspecified.
  • Based on NCCI data, injuries resulting from a crime are more severe than injuries resulting from other causes and more likely to involve a fatality. In contrast, severity for injuries resulting from being struck by a fellow worker or patient is below average.
  • Risk factors linked to an increased likelihood of workplace violence published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 1996 are still consistent with the types of occupations and industries at highest risk for workplace violence today.
  • Workplace assaults account for less than 2% of all injuries.
  • The complete report is available for free at NCCI’s site: NCCI – Violence in the Workplace

Filed Under: Association, Rating & Research News, Industry News, Risk Management News, Top Stories, Work Force & Human Resource News, Workers' Compensation

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Get Our Free Newsletter

Privacy by SafeUnsubscribe

Follow Us on Twitter

Tweets by @Work_Comp_Wire

Workers Compensation News Topics

  • Association, Rating & Research News
  • Claims, Legal, & Compliance News
  • Editor’s Forum
  • Featured Articles
  • Industry News
  • Leaders Speak
  • Legislative & Regulatory News
  • People On The Move
  • Risk Management News
  • Top Stories
  • Work Force & Human Resource News
  • WorkComp Leaders’ Speak
  • Workers’ Compensation

Blogroll

  • Comp Time
  • Conference Chronicles
  • Managed Care Matters
  • Outlook on Outcomes
  • Work Comp Edge
  • Workers' Comp Insider

Wire Archives

Copyright © 2019 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in