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Violence at Work Place. CONTENTS. Introduction Definition Types of Violence at work place Risk factor for violence Job at Risk Violence Prevention. introduction.
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CONTENTS • Introduction • Definition • Types of Violence at work place • Risk factor for violence • Job at Risk Violence • Prevention
Violence at work place involve unlawful activities that direct to legal action or police investigation that can result in criminal procedure. • Violent acts include: physical and non-physical assaults (hitting, kicking, beating, squeezing, and so on) • can have a dramatic impact on the health, safety and welfare of workers • cause significant economic and social costs to the victim, their family, the business in which they work and the wider community
The Guidance for the Prevention of Stress and Violence at Workplace published by Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH ) in 2001 to overcome this problem under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 • designed to help employers, employees and their representatives identify the potential for violence at work and to provide practical guidance for the development of risk reduction strategies
Other Laws • Britain main legislations concerning workplace violence can be found in the Employment Relations Act 1999 and, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 • New Zealand Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 is published to develop a guide for employers and employees alike on how to handle workplace violence • United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an official body that identify the hazards of workplace violence
International Labour Organisation (ILO) workplace violence is not exclusively a Western phenomenon become a global concern • European countries such as France and Romania head the list of countries in which the frequency of incidents of workplace violence is reported to be the highest (McNamee, 1998)
Based on the ILO survey, workplace violence has not yet reached an alarming situation in Malaysia, but this is not to deny its existence in Malaysian Cases of aggression and violence in various workplaces in Peninsular Malaysia Source: Labour Department
1996 568 reported cases of aggression and violence in various workplaces in Peninsular Malaysia. • The same source also indicated a rise in the number of reported cases between 1997 and 1998. 1997 427 1998 676 • Between 1990 and 1998 almost 4,000 cases of violence and aggression filed at the Industrial Courts • Highest number of incidents recorded between 1997 and 1998 • The violent behaviours that have been reported to the Labour Department include cases of sabotage, fighting at work, threat, assault, and harassment. Source: David Kanagaraj, personal communication, 22 February 2000
Any action, incident or behaviour that departs from reasonable conduct in which a person is assaulted, threatened, harmed, injured in the course of, or as a direct result 1 of, his or her work. • Internal workplace violence • is that which takes place between workers, including managers and supervisors. • External workplace violence • is that which takes place between workers (and managers and supervisors) and any other person present at the workplace.
DOSH • Incidents where employees are abused, threatened, assaulted or subject to other offensive behaviour incircumstances related to their work • NIOSH • violent acts, including physical assaults and threats of assault, directed toward persons at work or on duty
WHO • The intentional use of power, threatened or actual, against another person or against a group, in work-related circumstances, that either results in or has a high degree of likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation”
Assault/Attack • Threat • Abuse • Harassment • Sexual harassment • Bullying/Mobbing SOURCE: OSHA GUIDANCE FOR THE PREVENTION OF STRESS AND VIOLENCE AT THE WORKPLACE
Assault/Attack • Attempt at physical injury or attack on a person leading to actual physical harm. • Example: • Beating • Kicking • Slapping
Threat • The deliberate verbal or written expression or other specific implication of intent to inflict bodily injury, death or other harmful results that a reasonable person would perceive as a danger to the personal safety of themselves or others. • Types of threat: • Veiled: involves reference to a violence act and an association with the present situation • Conditional: contain words such as “if” or “or” and references a violent act with the condition • Direct: warning of a pending violent act.
Abuse • Behaviour that departs from reasonable conduct • Involves the misuse of physical and psychological strength. • Includes • Harassment • Bullying • Mobbing.
Harassment • Any unwelcome verbal, written or physical conduct that either denigrates or shows hostility or aversion towards a person on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, political affiliation, or disability. • has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment • has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an employee's work performance • affects an employee's employment opportunities or compensation.
Sexual harassment • Sexual conduct that is unwanted, unwelcome, or unsolicited. • Includes requests for sexual favours which are inappropriate and offensive. • Categories: • Sexual coercion/ Quid pro quo : results in some direct consequence to the victim’s employment. • Example: A superior (has the power over salary) attempts to coerce a subordinate to grant sexual favours. • If accedes->job benefits will follow. • if refuses->job benefits are denied.
Sexual annoyance/Hostile environment : sexually-related conduct that is offensive, hostile or intimidating to the recipient, but has no direct link to any job benefit. • The annoying conduct creates a bothersome working environment which the recipient has to tolerate in order to continue working.
Form of Sexual harassment • verbal harassment: e.g. offensive or suggestive remarks, comments and jokes • non-verbal/gestural harassment: e.g. hand signal or sign language denoting sexual activity. • visual harassment: e.g. showing pornographic materials, drawing sex-based sketches. • psychological: e.g. repeated unwanted social invitations, relentless proposals for dates or physical intimacy. • physical harassment: e.g. inappropriate touching, patting, pinching, stroking, brushing up against the body, hugging, kissing, fondling, sexual assault.
Bullying/Mobbing • Repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group) directed towards an employee (or a group of employees), which is intended to intimidate and creates a risk to the health and safety of the employee(s). • Often involves an abuse or misuse of power. • Bullying includes: • Behaviour that intimidates, degrades, offends, or humiliates a worker, often in front of others. • Creates feelings of defencelessness in the target and undermines an individual’s right to dignity at work.
There are many factors that can lead to violence. • There are consists of three factor that contribute to the violence at work place. • The factor are Individual factors, Environmental Factors, Social and cultural factors. • Some of the other factors include anxiety, vulnerability, and low morale.
1) Individual factors • History of violence: • Such as an individual with a documented history of violent or aggressive behavior. For example, you as a supervisor, may get a new employee in your workforce who had to be moved from his/her past job because of exhibiting violent or aggressive behavior toward a former coworker b)Hate group membership: • Such as an individual who expresses his or her severe prejudices by being a member of a "hate group." This person is at risk of responding to the groups actions, including perpetrating violence at members of the target group.
c) Evidence of psychosis: • Such as an individual who holds false beliefs about people and their motives; have conversations with him/herself; or, who's appearance becomes disheveled over a period of time. d) Depression: • Such as a usually outgoing and good spirited person who becomes withdrawn, unusually quiet, and/or exhibits extreme signs of stress.
e) Pathological blamer: • Such as a worker who continually says, "I'm not a fault" and will not accept responsibility. f) Elevated frustration: • Such as an individual who refuses to come to work and complains about everything. g) Interest in weapons: • Such as a person who displays obsessive interest in weapons or explosives through informal discussions and mannerisms. h) Chemical dependence: • Someone who displays signs such as being late for work, being unable to get along with co-workers, even though you may not know he/she has a chemical dependence.
i) Time spent at work • Length of time at work was able to predict workplace aggression such that the longer hours a person worked, the more likely they were to report aggression. Two possible reasons are: • First, the more hours worked, the greater statistical probability of being victimized. • Second, longer hours worked could contribute to fatigue and frustration. This in turn may increase the likelihood of aggressive actions towards co-workers.
j) Gender • Gender has been shown to be a significant predictor of workplace aggression. For example, being male has been shown to be significantly related to reports of aggression against supervisors. Furthermore, males are more likely to commit aggressive acts in the presence of other men. Females, on the other hand, are no more likely to act aggressively in either the presence of females or males.
k) Age • Age is significantly related to aggression. In their study of age and job performance, Ng and Feldman (2008) found that older workers (age 40 or older) engaged in less workplace aggression than younger workers. l) Alcohol consumption • The frequency and amount of alcohol typically consumed by a person predicts aggressive behavior. Those who consume more alcohol more frequently are more likely to aggress against a coworker (Greenberg & Barling, 1999).
2) Environmental Factors • The following attributes can create a "toxic work environment" within an organization which can worse ill feelings among employees and military members and can lead to an increased potential for violence. Many times, supervisors are responsible for bring up this environment.
Existence of hostile or threatening work environment - Allowing aggressive conduct, the existence of hostile or threatening work environment to persist under your supervision, or ignoring and taking no action for thefts, fights, sexual or racial harassment, intimidation or other behaviors viewed as hostile by employees. b) Highly authoritarian management style - This can cause feelings of oppression and frustration among workers.
c) Lack of employee participation in the decision making process - Workers feel they are merely "assembly line workers" and have no contribution to the direction of the organization.
3) Social factors a) Workplace changes • Certain changes in the work environment can lead to increased aggression which they attributed to heightened anxiety and stress. Specifically, changes in management, increased monitoring systems (e.g., increased computer monitoring), increased diversity, and the increased use of part-time employees all were related to higher levels of workplace aggression.
b) Adverse economic conditions - Stress increases significantly during times of economic upheaval. Financial problems at any age may trigger negative survival responses from employees and result in unpredictable behavior. c) Organization justice • Perceived interpersonal justice, the degree to which people feel they are treated with fairness and respect, is negatively related to both psychological and physical aggression against supervisors (Dupre & Barling, 2006).
d) Supervision and surveillance • Workplace surveillance (employee monitoring) is positively related to workplace aggression against supervisors, such that the greater the number of employee surveillance methods used, the greater the amount of workplace aggression . • Furthermore, supervisory control over work performance has also been shown to be positively related to workplace aggression against supervisors.
f) Job-specific characteristics • Other antecedents of workplace aggression found in the literature are specific job characteristics. LeBlanc and Kelloway (2002) found that certain job features, such as handling guns or collecting valuable items, were significantly more related to workplace aggression.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH • Such a finding is further corroborated by previous studies which have documented a number of factors that may increase a worker's risk for workplace assault (Di Martino & Masri, 2001; NIOSH, 1996), which include: • Contact with the public • Exchange of money • Delivery of passengers, goods, and services • Working alone or in small numbers, and • Guarding valuable property or possessions.
Employees whose job requires them to deal with the public can be at risk from violence. Most at risk are those who are engaged in: • Giving a service • Caring • Education • Cash transactions • Delivery / collection • Controlling • Representing authority
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety • Certain occupational groups tend to be more at risk from workplace violence. These occupations include: • Health care employees • Correctional officers • Social services employees • Teachers • Municipal housing inspectors • Public works employees, and • Retail employees.
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER • Working in a correctional institution can be stressful and hazardous. • Every year, correctional officers are injured in confrontations with inmates. • Correctional officers and jailers have one of the highest rates of nonfatal on-the-job injuries. • First-line supervisors/managers of correctional officers also face the risk of work-related injury. Correctional officers may work indoors or outdoors. • Some correctional institutions are well lighted, temperature controlled, and ventilated, but others are old, overcrowded, hot, and noisy.
Correctional officers inspect mail and visitors for prohibited items.
SOCIAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES • Child, family, and school social workers • provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families. • Medical and public health social workers • provide psychosocial support to individuals, families, or vulnerable populations so they can cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses, such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, or AIDS. • Mental health and substance abuse social workers - assess and treat individuals with mental illness or substance abuse problems. Such services include individual and group therapy, outreach, crisis intervention, social rehabilitation, and teaching skills needed for everyday living.
Risk factors for work related violence in a health care organizationM J Findorff1, P M McGovern1, M Wall2, S G Gerberich1, B Alexander1 • Violence is the third most common cause of occupational death in the United States and the second leading cause for working women, accounting for 639 work related homicides in 2001,1 and nearly two million acts of non-fatal work related violence annually.2 Health care workers are at increased risk of non-fatal work related violence.3–5 Most studies addressing health care workers have focused on one occupation, nursing.6,7 Injury rates per 100 000 persons per year, based on workers’ compensation claims for selected health care occupations, included registered nurses (27), licensed practical nurses (88), medical managers (116), occupational therapists (222), nursing aides (289), and health aides (457), compared with an overall rate of 16.7 The vast majority of physical violence in health care is perpetrated by patients or clients.4,8–13
Wed, 26/09/2007 - 09:22 Ministers are being urged to make retail crime a higher priority after new figures revealed an increase in threats and acts of violence against shop workers. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said incidents of physical violence against store staff have risen by 50 per cent over the past year, while threats of violence have more than doubled during the same period. Incidents per store also shot up by 18 per cent with verbal abuse episodes showing a six per cent hike.
