Violence in the Workplace Statistics

I recently gave a Preventing Violence in the Workplace presentation to a group of business owners (you can get the white paper here).

There's good news and bad news about workplace violence.

The good news:

1. Workplace violence is less prevalent than most people think. About 800 people die each year from workplace violence. (Homicide - the workplace issue that gets the most media attention - is only the fourth leading cause of deaths in the workplace).
2. There are a number of inexpensive techniques that can mitigate workplace violence, such as implementing an Illness and Injury Prevention Plan, conducting simple training programs, and implementing background checks on job applicants.

The bad news:

1. Incidents of workplace violence are likely on the increase.
2. While most conceptions of incidents involve 'the post office' or large organizations, it's affecting small businesses more and more, since small businesses generally don't have the infrastructure to support training programs and knowledge about how to prevent workplace violence.

Thanks to Centre Daily Times.