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When working
becomes hazardous
Punching, spitting, swearing, shooting:
Violence at work goes global
Workplace violence - be it physical or psychological - has gone global, crossing borders, work settings and occupational groups. A new ILO report says some workplaces and occupations have become "high risk", and that women are especially vulnerable. The report highlights this burgeoning global problem, and provides ways for policy-makers to promote dialogue, policies and initiatives which can repudiate violence and remove it from the workplace now.
Homicide and rape. Kicking, biting, punching. Harassment, including sexual and racial abuse. Bullying, mobbing, victimizing. Leaving offensive messages, name-calling. Deliberate silence.
All in a days work?
Above are just some behaviours lumped under the definition of "violence in the workplace." The list is large, and contains actions which border on acceptable behaviour. Others can be interpreted differently from one culture to another.
Yet despite the ambiguity, the presence of violence in its multifarious forms - whether subtle, overtly physically, or psychological - appears to be a growing concern in workplaces worldwide.
These are some of the main messages in a new ILO report entitled, Violence at Work. 1 The 156-page report has just been issued by the International Labour Office and is the most extensive worldwide survey of violence in the workplace.
The report found that outbursts of violence occurring in workplaces around the globe suggest that the issue is becoming increasingly global, transcending the boundaries of a particular country, work setting or occupational group. Some workplaces and occupations involving people working alone or at night are increasingly at higher risk than others. Women are especially at risk, because so many are concentrated in the high-risk occupations, particularly as teachers, social workers, nurses, and bank and shop workers.
The aim of the report is to provide information and analysis enabling policy-makers in government agencies, employers and workers organizations, health and safety professionals, personnel managers, trainers and workers to promote dialogue, policies and initiatives to repudiate violence and remove it from the workplace now.
Not all violence is physical. In recent years, new evidence has emerged of the impact and harm caused by non-physical, psychological violence. Such psychological violence includes bullying and mobbing.
Workplace bullying is one of the fastest-growing forms of workplace violence. It constitutes offensive behaviour through vindictive, cruel, malicious or humiliating attempts to undermine an individual or groups of employees through such activities as making life difficult for those who have the potential to do the bullys job better, shouting at staff to get things done, insisting that the "bullys way is the right way", refusing to delegate because the bully feels no one else can be trusted, and punishing others by constant criticism or removing their responsibilities for being too competent.
Research carried out in the UK found that 53 per cent of employees had been victims of bullying at work and that 78 per cent had witnessed such behaviour. The impact on those concerned can be severe. A Finnish study on the effects of bullying on municipal employees indicated that 40 per cent of bullied workers felt "much" or "very much" stress, 49 per cent felt unusually tired on the job, and 30 per cent were nervous "often" or "constantly."
Ganging up or mobbing is a growing problem in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. It involves ganging up on or "mobbing" a targeted employee and subjecting that person to psychological harassment. Mobbing includes constant negative remarks or criticisms, isolating a person from social contacts, and gossiping or spreading false information. In Sweden, it is estimated that mobbing is a factor in 10 to 15 per cent of suicides.
"The new profile of violence at work which emerges is one which gives equal emphasis to physical and psychological behaviour, and one which gives full recognition to the significance of minor acts of violence," says Vittorio Di Martino, co-author of the ILO report.
Automation, subcontracting, teleworking, networking and the "new" self-employment are leading to an increase around the world in the number of people working alone. Working alone is not automatically more dangerous than other employment, but does have its special situations.
Workers working alone in small shops, gas stations and kiosks are often seen as "easy" targets by aggressors. In the United States, gas station workers rank fourth among the occupations most exposed to homicide. Cleaners, maintenance or repair staff and others who work alone outside normal hours are at special risk of suffering physical and sexual attacks. Of lone workers, taxi drivers in many places are at the greatest risk of violence. Night-time is the highest-risk driving period, and as in other occupations, customer intoxication appears to play a role in precipitating violence. A 1990 Australian study of taxi drivers disclosed that taxi drivers ran 28 times the risk of non-sexual assault and almost 67 times the rate of robbery compared to the community at large.
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homicide
rape robbery wounding battering physical attacks kicking biting punching spitting scratching squeezing, pinching and related actions stalking harassment, including sexual and racial abuse bullying |
mobbing
victimizing intimidation threats ostracism leaving offensive messages aggressive posturing rude gestures interfering with work tools and equipment hostile behaviour swearing shouting name-calling innuendo deliberate silence |
Is the "disgruntled worker" the "every-man" of workplace violence? News reports of violent workplace incidents often stress acts of an individual: enraged, aggrieved, irritated or frustrated for one reason or another, either personal or professional, or under the influence f alcohol or drugs.
However that perception may be repeated in the media, the report stresses that a far more promising approach to workplace violence can be found in an "interactive" analysis of both individual and social risk factors. Studies cited in the report indicate that workplace violence often stems from a combination of causes, including individual behaviour as well as the work environment, the conditions of work, the way in which co-workers interact, the way that customers or clients interact with workers, and the interaction between managers and workers..
"We reject the idea that the sole reasons for workplace violence stem from the individual," says Mr. Di Martino. "We will never succeed in either preventing further violence or dealing with violence after it occurs by moving solely on that premise."
What is the cost? Violence causes immediate and often long-term disruption to interpersonal relationships, the organization of work and the overall working environment, the report says. Employers bear the direct cost of lost work and improved security measures. Indirect costs include reduced efficiency and productivity, loss in product quality, loss of company image and a reduction in the number of clients. Some examples of the costs of violence include the following:
In the United States, the total costs of workplace violence to employers amounted to more than $4 billion in 1992, according to a survey conducted by the National Safe Workplace Institute. In Canada, wage-loss claims by hospital workers from acts of violence and force have increased by 88 per cent since 1985, according to the British Columbia Workers Compensation Board. In Germany, the direct cost of psychological violence in an enterprise of 1,000 workers has been calculated at US $112,000 (200,000 DM) per year, along with $56,000 of indirect costs.
On a March day at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, a lone gunman stalks into the gymnasium and opens fire. In moments, a teacher and 15 children lay dead on the polished wooden floor, having sustained a total of 58 gunshot wounds. A few weeks later, at the national historic site in the small Australian island state of Tasmania, a lone offender, armed with a military type assault rifle, kills 35 people and wounds more than 30 others including park employees.
These two incidents, occurring in disparate and far removed parts of the world regarded as areas completely immune from such horrific events, show that violence at the workplace can strike at any time, in any place.
The report says that there is growing recognition that in confronting violence a comprehensive approach is required. Instead of searching for a single solution good for any problem and situation, the full range of causes which generate violence should be analysed and a variety of intervention strategies adopted. The response to workplace violence is too frequently limited, episodic and ill-defined.
"There is also growing awareness that violence at work is not merely an episodic, individual problem but a structural, strategic problem rooted in wider social, economic, organizational and cultural factors," says Mr. Di Martino.
"Violence at work is detrimental to the functionality of the workplace, and any action taken against such violence is an integral part of the organizational development of a sound enterprise."
"Beyond Violence", the last chapter of "Violence at Work" addresses this response, which takes the matter from an issue for discussion to an issue for action. It stresses the importance of a preventive, systematic and targeted approach to violence at work, the emergence of specific legislation on violence at work, the key role of guidelines in shaping an effective response, and the importance of both immediate intervention and long-term assistance to victims of violence.
Some early intervention measures which can produce more permanent results include:
The ILO's concerns and actions in areas closely related to violence at work have resulted in a series of studies and publications, in particular on occupational stress, and drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace. A specific form of violence - sexual harassment - has, for a long time, been high on the action agenda of the ILO. 2
Calls for action, such as the urging of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET) for the development of guidelines and/or a Code of Practice on violence at work are being met in the ILOs 1998-1999 programme of work, including means of gathering data, research, assessment of legislation, identification and dissemination of "best practices" information, and production of material specifically addressed to the needs of women.
A wave of recent incidents has added to the urgency of the task. Say the authors in conclusion: "Let us repudiate violence and remove it from the workplace now!"
1 Violence at work, by Duncan Chappell and Vittorio Di Martino. International Labour Office, Geneva, 1998. ISBN 92-2-110335-8. Price: 25 Swiss francs.
2 The ILO was the first international body to adopt an instrument containing an express protection against sexual harassment. The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), states that governments shall adopt special measures to ensure that the people concerned enjoy equal opportunities and equal treatment in employment for men and women, and protection from sexual harassment" (Article 20, para. 3(d)).
A 1996 European Union survey based on 15,800 interviews in its 15 member States showed that 4 per cent of workers (6 million) were subjected to physical violence in the preceding year; 2 per cent (3 million workers) to sexual harassment; and 8 per cent (12 million workers) to intimidation and bullying.
Impressive data. However, comparing rates of violence between countries is difficult. Official statistics on workplace homicide, physical and sexual attacks, sexual harassment and psychological violence vary widely, are often inadequate or don't exist at all.
Here are some country snapshots of violence at work cited in the report, including the sources of the data.
The United States
In the United States, nearly a thousand Americans are murdered on the job each year and workplace homicide has become the leading cause of death for women and the second leading cause of death for men. According to a 1992-1996 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 3 "during each year, U.S. residents experienced more than 2 million violent victimizations while they were working or on duty. The most common type of workplace violent crime was simple assault with an estimated average of 1.4 million victimizations occurring each year. While at work U.S. residents also suffered 395,000 aggravated assaults, 50,000 rapes and sexual assaults, (and) 83,000 robberies."
Workplace violence in the United States is clustered in certain occupations. Taxicab drivers have the highest risk of workplace homicides of any American occupation. The retail trade and service industries account for more than half of workplace homicides and 85 per cent of non-fatal workplace assaults.
The United Kingdom
A survey conducted by the British Retail Consortium into crime in the retail sector found that more than 11,000 retail staff workers were victims of physical violence on the job in the 1994-95 financial year, and 350,000 suffered threats and verbal abuse. The majority of physical attacks - 59 per cent - occurred when staff members were trying to prevent theft. Other causes of physical violence derive from dealing with troublemakers, 16 per cent; robbery incidents, 10 per cent; angry customers, 5 per cent; drunk or drugged people, 5 per cent. The risk of physical violence was put at 5 attacks per 1,000 staff members; threats of violence, 35 per 1,000; and verbal violence, 81 per 1,000.
Japan
A severe economic recession led to major corporate downsizing, shattering long-held assumptions about staying with one company for the duration of one's working life. The loss of lifetime job security and seniority systems has been accompanied by alleged bullying of white-collar workers. The Tokyo Managers' Union established a "bullying hot-line" which received more than 1,700 requests for consultations in two short periods in June and October of 1996. Stress was a common complaint of all callers, with many seeking urgent mental health treatment. Families whose members had committed or attempted suicide were among the callers.
Germany
An extensive national survey conducted in Germany in 1991 by the Federal Institute of Occupational Health and Safety disclosed that 93 per cent of the women questioned had been sexually harassed at the workplace during their working lives.
The Philippines
Migration for work purposes has long been a feature of the Filipino employment market. According to data gathered in the Philippines, more than half of all overseas Filipino contract workers are women. Many are hired for domestic service and entertainment. Research has shown that these Filipino women workers are frequently and disproportionately affected by violence associated with their employment. "Many affected workers report maltreatment, a general term that includes pulling the hair, battering, beating the hands with any instrument, burning of the flesh of the victim, banging the head against the wall, throwing of toxic, chemically dangerous liquids," the report says. "Employers commonly hold the worker's passport as a way of ensuring continued subservience."
3 "Workplace Violence, 1992-96: National Crime Victimization Survey", Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice), Special Report, Washington, DC, June 1998.