Table of Contents
Stronger Safety Training Programs Needed
Against Workplace Violence
Researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston have released a new study which suggests employers who emphasize stronger safety training programs create safer work environments, specifically if the programs are geared at women and employees under 39 years old.
Irwin Horwitz, Ph.D.
The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, examined the risk of violence that employees in various occupations face.
“This research is significant because even though the number of violent incidents in the workplace is down nationwide, we are seeing more and more incidents of serious violence on the job,” said Irwin Horwitz, Ph.D., co-investigator of the study and assistant professor of management, policy and community health at the UT School of Public Health.
“We need to know where it’s coming from if we are going to prevent violence in the workplace.”
To collect data for the study, investigators examined more than 2,000 workers’ compensation claims filed to a state department in Oregon between 1990 and 1997. Investigators used data from Oregon because that state requires all employers to report workers’ compensation claims that result in employees being out of work three days or more. Texas does not require all employers to report workers’ compensation claims.
The study showed that workers found to be at the greatest risk for violence included those in law enforcement, retail sales, health care, education, transportation and social services. More than 1,900 of the claims were a result of assault and battery, including hitting, kicking and biting.
Men faced violence on the job most often between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. Women were found to encounter workplace violence between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. and at 6 a.m. Women made up the majority of the claims.
When analyzed by age group, workers between the ages of 25 and 39 had the highest violence-related
claim rate.
“The fact that we find the younger employees are facing violent incidents suggests employers may need to better train the employees with less tenure to handle specific situations,” Horwitz said. “We’ve found that many employers do not choose to invest in additional safety training because of the cost, but when you look at the time injured employees are out of work and the cost of the workers’ compensation claims, employers may be worse off with less safety training.”
The study found that average days away from work as characterized by the total temporary disability duration was 39 days for women and 44 days for men. The total cost of the claims used for the study was more than $12 million, averaging about $6,200 per claim.
Horwitz said this research corroborates previous studies that suggest employers should intensify safety training programs. “The more studies on this issue that we have, the more evidence we have to support policy change,” he said.
Horwitz completed the study with co-investigator Brian McCall, Ph.D., professor and director of the Human Resource Research Institute at the University of Minnesota.
— By Pamela R. Cathion, Public Affairs