Violence at Workplace

Violence at workplace.

1. Name Matric No
1. Nik Hanisah Binti Nik Aziz 102667
2. Nooraishiah Binti Mohamed Noorzeli 102669
3. Norsyazwani Binti Mohammad 102675
4. Nur Hidayah Bt Meor Ikram 102676
5. Nur Rauhaini Ilma Bt Ismail 102678
6. Roseba Binti Bakri 102681
7. Rozeenyza Binti Abd Aziz 102682
8. Farah Nafeesha Mohd Raseli 103155

2. •Introduction
•Definition
•Types of Violence at work place
•Risk factor for violence
•Job at Risk Violence
•Prevention

3. introduction

4. •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

5. •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

6. 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

7. •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)

8. •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

9. •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

11. •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.

12. •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

13. •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”

14. types of Violence at
work place

15. Table 1. Typology of workplace violence
Type Description
I: Criminal intent•The perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the business
or its employee
•Usually committing a crime in conjunction with the violence.
Eg: robbery, shoplifting, trespassing, and terrorism.
II: Customer/client•The perpetrator has a legitimate relationship with the business
•Becomes violent while being served by the business.
•Includes: customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, and
any other group for which the business provides services.
•Worker who may be exposed: Police officers, prison staff,
flight attendants, etc.
III: Worker-on-worker•The perpetrator is an employee or past employee of the
business
•Attacks or threatens another employee(s) or past employee(s)
in the workplace.
IV: Personal
relationship
•The perpetrator has a personal relationship with the intended
victim.
•Includes: victims of domestic violence assaulted or
threatened while at work.
Sources: CAL/OSHA 1995; Howard 1996; IPRC 2001.

16. •Assault/Attack
•Threat
•Abuse
•Harassment
•Sexual harassment
•Bullying/Mobbing
SOURCE: OSHA GUIDANCE FOR THE PREVENTION OF
STRESS AND VIOLENCE AT THE WORKPLACE

17. Assault/Attack
•Attempt at physical injury or attack on a
person leading to actual physical harm.
•Example:
–Beating
–Kicking
–Slapping

18. 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.

19. Abuse
•Behaviour that departs from reasonable
conduct
•Involves the misuse of physical and
psychological strength.
•Includes
–Harassment
–Bullying
–Mobbing.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. •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.

23. •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.

24. 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.

25. risk factor for Violence
at work place

26. •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.

27. 1) Individual factors
a)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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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:
i. First, the more hours worked, the greater
statistical probability of being victimized.
ii.Second, longer hours worked could
contribute to fatigue and frustration. This in
turn may increase the likelihood of
aggressive actions towards co-workers.

31. 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.

32. 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).

33. 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.

34. a)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.

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. 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).

38. 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.

39. 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.

40. JoB at risk Violence

41. 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:
3.Contact with the public
4.Exchange of money
5.Delivery of passengers, goods, and services
6.Working alone or in small numbers, and
7.Guarding valuable property or possessions.

42. HEALTH AND SAFETY
EXECUTIVE

43. 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:
3.Giving a service
4.Caring
5.Education
6.Cash transactions
7.Delivery / collection
8.Controlling
9.Representing authority

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. Correctional officers inspect mail and visitors for prohibited items.

47. 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.

48. Social workers help people resolve issues in their lives

49. Risk factors for work related violence in a
health care organization
M 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

50. •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.

51. Work related factors increase the risk
of violence.
Certain work factors, process, and interactions can put
people at increased risk from workplace violence. For
example:
•Working with the public
•Handling money, valuables or prescription drugs
(cashiers, pharmacists)
•Carrying out inspection or enforcement duties
(government employees)
•Providing service, care, advice or education (health
care staff, teachers)
•Working with unstable or volatile persons (social
services, or criminal justice system employees)

52. •Working in premises where alcohol is served
(food and beverage staff)
•Working alone, in small numbers (store clerks,
real estate agents), or in isolated or low traffic
areas (washrooms, storage areas, utility
rooms)
•Working in community-based settings (nurses,
social workers and other home visitors)
•Having a mobile workplace (taxicab)
•Working during periods of intense
organizational change (strikes, downsizing)

53. Risk of violence may be greater at certain times
of the day, night or years. For example:
•late hours of the night or early hours of the
morning
•Christmas
•pay days
•report cards or parent interviews, and
•performance appraisals.

54. Risk of violence may increase depending on the
geographic location of the workplace. For
example:
•Near buildings or businesses that are at risk of
violent crime (bars, banks)
•In areas isolated from other buildings or
structures.

55. Wednesday, 10 February 2010 13:53
KUALA LUMPUR -Azman Bahar (not his real name), in his late 20s
and an administrative assistant in a private firm.
"I have been burdened with loads of difficult tasks by my
superior officer. Even though my colleagues share the same
responsibilities, I was the one who became the 'victim'.
"It is a rare occasion for me to leave office the moment the clock
showed six in the evening, unlike my co-workers. Usually I am
only able to leave at about 8pm. After completing a task,
immediately I would be given another bundle of files even
though the other workers are quite free," he told this writer.
Azman also complained that it was difficult for him to obtain
leave. "Even when I showed a medical certificate, many
questions were hurled back with some degree of sceptism,"
he said.

56. THE MEDICAL NEWS
from News-Medical.Net - Latest Medical News and Research from Around the World
Majority of nurses experience workplace violence
3
rd
February 2010 04:59
Three-quarters of nurses providing private and public care
experienced workplace violence, but only one in six incidents
were formally reported, according to study published in the
February issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
The majority (92%) said they had been verbally abused, 69%
had been physically threatened and 52% had been physically
assaulted. A total of 2,354 incidents were reported to the
research team, with nurses facing an average of two to 46
incidents a year.

58. Prevention
•It is essential that action be undertaken at different levels to prevent this
from happening:-
–primary level identify and address problems at the level of the
organization and the environment
–secondary level interventions can be developed to help individual
employees or groups of employees coping with stress and violence
–tertiary level assistance can be provided to employees who have been
subject to violence to recover from it.
•Developing a "quality" workplace culture
•Environmental intervention
•Organisational intervention
•Intervention on the individual

59. Developing a "quality" workplace culture
•An "open" working.
•An organisational culture based on tolerance, equal opportunities and cooperation
•Issuing a clear policy statement:-
– a declaration indicating a real commitment to make the issue of violence a real
priority in the organisation
–a caution stating that no violent behaviour or behaviour intentionally generating
stress will be tolerated
–an engagement in support of any action targeted at creating a stress and
violence- free environment
–a directive stating that supervisors and managers have a positive duty to
implement the policy and to demonstrate leadership by example.

60. Environmental intervention
•Improving The General Environment
a.physical features of a workplace can be a factor in either defusing or acting as a
potential trigger for stress and violence.
b.Special attention should be given to the level and ways in which employees are
exposed to reduce or eliminate any negative impact:-
noise
odours
illumination
temperature
humidity
 ventilation
 dust
 vibrations
dangerous substances

61. •In the specific context of possible violence and aggression in the
workplace, especially those open to the public, the design of workplaces
requires special attention and involves the following additional factors:-
crowding
comfort of seating which is crucial
especially where waiting is involved
comfort and size of waiting rooms
toilet facilities
controlled entrances
alarms
security guards
protective barriers
surveillance cameras and
systems to alert other employees that urgent help is needed

62. •Improving The Workstation Design
a.design of the workstation is of fundamental importance in providing
employees with comfortable working conditions.
b.It is recommended to use the following checklists to identify relevant aspects
in the arrangements of workplaces and of work seating:-
Guidelines For The Arrangements of Workplace
Guidelines For The Work Seating
•Improving The Interface Man / New Technology
a.For a stress and violence-free introduction of new technology it is important
that:-
new technology is introduced in a phased way
new technology is spread by successful examples, starting with critical
applications and demonstrable benefits
new technology is introduced through a large involvement of those
concerned and largely based on consensus
new technology is introduced“ discretely' according to the real needs of
organisations and their employees;
pace of work, working arrangements and pauses are human-tailored
rather than technology-driven.

63. Organisational intervention
•Changing work practices
–Organizational solutions can help in reducing the risks of exposure to
criminal attack changing the job or system of work.
•Improving job content
tasks performed are identifiable as whole units of a job rather than
fragments
 jobs make a significant contribution to the total operations of the
organisation which can be understood by the worker
sufficient feedback on task performance and opportunities for the
development of staff skills is provided
jobs are enriched with a wider variety of tasks
job planning is improved
overload is not excessive
pace of work is not excessive

64. •Re-arranging working time
adapt the length of working time to the workload
avoid the massive recourse to overtime
provide adequate rest pauses
create autonomous or semi-autonomous teams dealing with their own
working time arrangements
keep working time schedules regular and predictable
arrange, as far as possible, shift schedules so that shifts are rotated rapidly, in
a forward fashion, and that the longest period of rest should follow the night
shift
keep, as far as possible, consecutive night shifts to a minimum
•Circulation of Best Practices
production of case studies concise way
creation of networks among organisations with interest in similar issues
organisation of informal visits and meetings among the parties concerned;
informal communication via web and electronic newsletters. creation of
networks among organisations with interest in similar issues

65. Intervention on the individual
•Selection
a.Selection may help in identifying those individuals who are more tailored to
certain jobs, less likely to get stressed, frustrated or angered because of it, and
consequently less prone to violent workplace responses.
b.Although selection may have an important bearing in terms of stress and violence
prevention it should be used and interpreted with care and caution.
•Training and education
a.Regular and updated training is essential violence prevention.
communication skills which defuse and prevent a potentially threatening
situation
developing competence in the particular function to be performed; improving
the ability to identify potentially stressful and violent situations
preparing a "core group" of mature and specially competent staff who can
take responsibility for more complicated interactions
Guidelines identify the special training needs and skills required preventing
violence

66. •Fitness
–Maintaining physical fitness and emotionally stable psychic conditions
•Counseling
a.This should be carried out periodically and, in particular, on occasion
of high emotional stress and violent situations.
•Debriefing
a.Involves meetings among staff and as many people as possible who
are concerned in the stressful or violent situation.
b.This will give employees who suffer from victims of violence an
opportunity to let out their feelings and to share their experience with
others.
c.External consultants may also be involved in debriefing activities.

68. •Violence at the workplace is becoming an
increasingly worrying phenomenon.
•Many organizations including health system
have acknowledged the existence of the
problems but there are yet many others
which throw a blind eye to the problems.
•We all need to build a safe and just working
environment
•If employers and employees practicing the
guidance for the prevention of stress and
violence at the workplace, we can reduce this
problem.

69. References
•(OSHA)GUIDANCE FORE THE PREVENTATION OF STRESS
AND VIOLENCE AT THE WORKPLACE. (2001). Retrieved 3
29, 2010, from Department of Safety and Health Malaysia.
•Workplace Violence Prevention Strategies and Research
Needs. (2006). Retrieved 04 01, 2010, from NIOSH: http://
www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2006-144/
•Workplace Violence. (1998, 12). Retrieved 03 30, 2010,
from The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) :
http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/violence/wpv.htm
•http://www.tssa.org.uk/article-47.php3?id_article=1385
•http://unionsafe.labor.net.au/hazards/10717236108849.h
tml
•http://www.wao.org.my/research/sexual_harassment.htm