Gov't employees three times more likely to be victims of workplace violence

Workplace Violence Against Government Employees, 1994–2011’ released by the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average annual rate of workplace violence perpetrated against local, county, state, and federal government employees in 2011 was three times greater than that of private sector workers. The annual average rate of workplace violence against local, county, state, and federal government employees actually declined 82% from 1994 to 2011, compared to a decline of 72% for the private sector. Most of the decline (76%) occurred between 1994 and 2002, when the rate of workplace violence against government employees dropped from 99.2 violent victimizations per 1,000 to 24.2 per 1,000. The rate dropped an additional 25.6% from 2002 to 2011. The report also found that found that local, county, state and federal government employees experienced 18.0 nonfatal violent victimizations in the workplace per 1,000 employees age 16 or older compared to 5.2 nonfatal violent victimizations per 1,000 private-sector employees.  In 2011, the rate of workplace violence against government employees was more than three times the rate for private-sector employees. Based on the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), the report includes information on type of workplace violence, violence by occupation, and victim and crime characteristics including sex and race distribution, offender weapon use, and victim injury. Background checks and workplace violence The repercussions of an incident of workplace violence can be severe for employers if the correct safety procedures have not been followed by the company. For this reason, background checks are a must for any organization in the public sector, and the fact is reinforced by such workplace violence statistics. Protect yourself and protect your employees by hiring a pre-employment screening company to discuss your employment screening options.]]>