Violence at Work

Posted on: 30th July 2010

Anyone may become a victim! 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines work-related violence as: ‘Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work’.
This can include verbal abuse or threats as well as physical attacks from patients, customers, the general public or work colleagues.

The figures for RIDDOR reported violence for 2008 -2009 are:

  1. Fatal 4
  2. Major Injury 928
  3. Over 3 Day 6160

It will come as no surprise that Care Assistants closely followed by Police Officers are the groups of employees most likely to be injured.

Physical attacks are obviously dangerous, but serious or persistent verbal abuse can be a significant problem too, as it can cause damage to an employee’s health through anxiety and stress and for their employers this can represent a real financial cost – through low staff morale and high staff turnover. This in turn can affect the confidence of a business and its profitability. Further costs may arise from expensive insurance premiums and compensation payments.


All work-related violence, both verbal and physical, has serious consequences for employees and their organisations. For employees violence can cause pain, distress and even disability or death. A sound policy and procedures should be integrated into an organisation’s management system through training, risk assessment and reporting.