Introduction
Thesis Statement
Workplace violence, which encompasses verbal attack, physical attack, and in severe instances, death, has been a rising significant safety and health concern in the workplace, thus compelling the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop directives and recommendations to prevent the occurrence of this terrible plague.
Impacts and Causes of Workplace Violence
Effects of Violence in place of work
Violence and the workplace are two words that, until late, were not linked to each other. Nevertheless, when the two words are connected, they strike fright in the experiences of the individuals that are impacted by them (Park, Cho, & Hong, 2015).
When there is a mention of the word workplace, there is a notion of a secure setting where people go to make their lives richer, an environment for the enhancement of careers (Giraffe, 2011). The place of work ought to offer betterment of families by assisting them in realizing the objectives of their monetary freedom.
The word violence creates pictures of brutality, such as the Oklahoma City Bombing. Such images create fear of the endeavors and put people into perceptions of actuality. Nevertheless, though workplace violence is despicable, it is a real and nearly unexpected occurrence, which could happen anytime. Violence is an evil that plagues most workplaces in the modern era.
Causes of Workplace Violence
Studies on workplace violence indicate many different causal factors that could result in workplace violence. Internal and external aspects of an organization lead to workplace violence. Though rampage killing could occur in the place of work, it is more frequent for workplace violence to be nonlethal. Workplace violence encompasses not just homicide but also conducts and occurrences that threaten a worker’s physical security, for instance, verbal, physical, or sexual violence, robbery, intimidation, bullying, threat, stalking, and molestation.
Domestic or family violence is normally evident in the place of work nowadays (Sellers, 2015). Domestic violence could act as an external cause of workplace violence and negatively impact work performance leading to numerous violent eruptions that affect an employee’s productivity.
Following such things as divorce, the workplace turns into a suitable target for stalking since the victim is found in this place most hours of the day. This gives a chance for a violent ex to attack the victim as he/she could alter phone numbers and place of residence, but it is hard to change jobs to evade the ex.
Internal aspects comprise the greatest level of violence in the place of work. Normally, the greatest internal aspect of workplace violence is the sacking or threatening to sack workers. A manager that feels that he/she has lost control can, at times, try to recover that control through some kind of violence. Other causes of workplace violence encompass failure to get promoted, dictatorial management, pressure, and relationship in the place of work.
Way Forward
Attributable to the lethality and increase in workplace violence, organizations should implement placement assistance programs to their workers to assist in the reduction of stress and minimization of risks associated with workplace violence.
Types and Statistics
Types and Their Rates of Occurrence
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) describes workplace violence through the creation of three groups (Park et al., 2015). The first group entails stranger violence, the violence done at the place of work by an alien that has no connection to the workplace, for instance, crime and robbery. Stranger violence forms about sixty percent of cases of violence in the place of work.
The second group is client violence, which arises when customers attack workers. Client violence represents about thirty percent of workplace violence. The third group is employee violence that is typified by violence done to a worker by another and represents ten percent of cases of workplace violence.
How They Arise
Most cases of workplace homicides do not entail fatal attacks amidst employees in a company; instead, they happen in association with burglaries and other criminal activities.
Handling the Situation
Studies show the rising intensity of workplace violence, even leading to death, and there is a great need for preventive measures to address the situation.
Prevention of Workplace Violence
Suitable Measures
Dillon (2012) affirms that there are different preventive measures that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration could take to avoid and reduce workplace violence. The comprehension of the causes of violence in the workplace is vital for a secure and comfortable atmosphere in the workplace.
Implementation
The majority of professionals concur that the triumph over violence in the workplace relies greatly on the personnel engaged in establishing and overseeing prevention programs. The implementation of effective programs delineates workplace violence and establishes consequences and reprimands. Such programs also seek to reduce workplace violence through education, in addition to training.
The success of the Programs
Occupational Safety and Health Administration should encourage all organizations to implement programs that educate their workers on the prevention of workplace violence and build interactive workshops where rigorous attendance is imposed (Bruce & Nowlin, 2011).
Conclusion
Workplace violence has been increasing as a noteworthy safety and health alarm with Occupational Safety and Health Administration being obliged to build up programs and recommendations to avoid the horrible occurrence. The prevention of workplace violence makes the place of work comfortable and safe.
References
Bruce, M. D., & Nowlin, W. A. (2011). Workplace violence: Awareness, prevention, and response. Public Personnel Management, 40(4), 293-308.
Dillon, B. L. (2012). Workplace violence: Impact, causes, and prevention. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation, 42(1), 15-20.
Giraffe, V. (2011). Contemporary social problems and the workplace. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Park, M., Cho, S. H., & Hong, H. J. (2015). Prevalence and perpetrators of workplace violence by nursing unit and the relationship between violence and the perceived work environment. Journal of nursing scholarship, 47(1), 87-95.
Sellers, S. L. (2015). When domestic violence enters the workplace. South Carolina Business, 36(1), 14-15.