According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), nearly 2 million people are victims of workplace violence each year. The workplace ranges from simple assaults to aggravated assaults. Although police officers, corrections officers, and taxi drivers are at the highest risk of becoming victims of workplace violence, research indicates that, in general, anyone who works in a position that handles money in cash or other valuable items or provide services to the public as a clientele and have direct contact with the recipients of the service is at risk. Such occupations include (in order of highest risk):
• Law enforcement officers
• Prison officers
• Taxi drivers
• Waiters
• Mental health custodians
• Special education teachers
• Gas station attendants
• Mental health professionals
• High school teachers
• Convenience store workers
• Bus drivers
• High school teachers
• Nurses
• Doctors
• All workers
• University teachers
predictable and preventable
Interestingly, around 75% of all workplace violence is committed by unarmed criminals. And a 2001 report titled Workplace Violence: A Report to the Nation, published by the University of Iowa, indicates that many of the factors that lead to workplace violence are “foreseeable and preventable.”
These same studies indicate that worker-to-worker violence accounts for nearly 10% of all workplace violence. And while such violent episodes cannot be completely predicted or prevented, many can.
Although, by making sure your company has strong workplace violence education and response policies, job screening can go a long way toward preventing workplace violence before it happens. The value of these exams can literally be measured in lifetimes. Removing potentially violent workers before they have a chance to act, before they are hired, is one way to make workplaces safer.
Screen potential employees for factors such as work history, criminal history, references, drug and alcohol use, etc. can make “predictable and preventable” workplace violence a thing of the past. Since the cost of workplace violence is about five times that of prevention, screening also makes fiscal sense.