Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is violent and nonviolent acts that take place in the workplace against employees. These acts can very well occur outside the workplace and can range from physical assaults, homicide, verbal threats, harassment, intimidation, and bullying (Mathis & Jackson, p. 491). Though such acts are nothing new to our society, workplace violence garnered national awareness when a disgruntled post office employee in Edmond, Oklahoma went to work and killed 14 fellow employees before committing suicide (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2001). Society has now coined the phrase “going postal” towards employees who display their aggravation through violent acts. Surprisingly, the rate of violence in the workplace has declines since 1993. According to a Special Report conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 2002 to 2009, the rate of nonfatal workplace violence has declined by 35%, following a 62% decline in the rate from 1993 to 2002 (Harrell). In my workplace, the most common forms of violence are rape/sexual assault, murder and suicide. Of the three, sexual assault ranks as the highest. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta estimated that the number of attacks in 2011 by service members on other service members — both women and men — was close to 19,000, more than six times the number of reported attacks (The New York Times). Coming in second, the Army had been plagued with murders by soldiers. Examples of the murders were seen in the shootings in 2009 at a mental health clinic in Camp Liberty, Iraq, Fort Hood and Fort Carson. One of the most publicized murders occurred when a soldier massacred 17 Afghan civilians in 2012 (Ritchie). And thirdly, suicides have increased drastically over the past years and the majority of the violent acts are linked to the effects of the war of Iraq. Soldiers have been diagnosed with extreme case of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For years, the three violent acts have plagued the U.S. Army and continue to

References: Harrell, E. (2011). Special Report: Workplace Violence, 1993-2009. U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics Kaplan, T. (2013). Workplace murder trial: Engineer tells of killing three SiPort bosses Retrieved on April 14, 2013 from http://prospect.org/article/how-women-won-kbr-rape-case Quigley, R day in court. Retrieved on April 14, 2013 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2003676/Jamie- Leigh-Jones-KBR-rape-victim-finally-gets-day-court.html Ritchie, E. C. (2012). Violence in the Military. TIME. Retrieved on April 20, 2013 from http://nation.time.com/2012/06/20/violence-and-the-military/ The New York Times. “Sexual Violence and the Military.” Retrieved on April 20, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/opinion/sexual-violence-and-the-military.html?_r=0 The Holy Bible. Today’s New International Version. Barker: Zondervan, 2006. Tjaden, P. G. and Thoennes, N. (2001). Coworker violence and gender. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 20(2), 85-89.