Note: Assaults and violent acts includes homicides, suicides, animal assaults and unidentifiable other.


Homicides due to robberies and similar criminal acts fell markedly over the late 1990s (but still make up 69 percent of all homicides), due largely to the decline in the homicide incidence rate for taxi drivers.


Figure 3 - The Largest Share of Homicides Is Due to Robbers and Other Perpetrators (NCCI)


80% 70% 60% 50% 40%


30% 20% 10% 0%


1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Calendar Year


Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics


Robber and Other Perpetrator Work Associates Relative


Other Personal Acquaintances


In contrast, homicides committed by work associates (a BLS category made up of both coworkers and customers) have increased to 21 percent. Interestingly, this reflects an increase in violent acts by customers to 9 percent. Despite the headlines, the share of workplace homicides due to co-workers has remained steady at about 12 percent, and the actual number of such homicides has been in the 50 to 60 range in recent years.


A February 2012 SHRM research study showed that 27 percent of businesses had experience an incident of workplace violence within the last 5 years5 in contrast to the 2005 study conducted by the BLS in which approximately 5 percent of all businesses in the U.S. experienced an incident of workplace violence in the year preceding their survey. The sample sizes and method of collections varied significantly between these two studies, so definitive conclusions based on the above comparative data should be done with caution.


Financial Impact of Workplace Violence


Current cost estimates for workplace violence remain elusive. A NIOSH Research report in 1998 estimated the economic cost of workplace violence nationwide at around $121 billion a year. Nonfatal workplace assaults alone result in more than 876,000 lost workdays and $16 millions in lost wages.


•


In 1995 the National Council of Compensation Insurance found $126 million in workers compensation claims for workplace violence.


• A study released by the Workplace Violence Research Institute in April 1995 showed that workplace violence actually resulted in a $36 billion annual loss.


©National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc. Page 5


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