DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AT WORK ZONE


The Workplace, Domestic Violence and Firearms By Maya Raghu


In January 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case that revisits the federal law banning domestic violence offenders from possessing firearms. The outcome of this case has important implications for employers and workplace safety because of the relationship between domestic violence, homicide, firearms and the workplace.


Although it may seem otherwise from media reports, firearms are involved in a very small percentage of workplace violence incidents. However, their presence during an incident significantly increases the likelihood of fatalities in the workplace. While homicides account for 11% of all fatal workplace injuries, shootings accounted for 80% of workplace homicides from 2005-2009. When firearms are present during workplace violence, they pose threats not only to employees, but also customers, clients, visitors and vendors.


A significant number of women are injured or killed at work with guns by current or former intimate partners because the workplace often serves as a location where a perpetrator can readily access or locate an intended victim.


Consider the following:


If a domestic violence perpetrator owns a gun, there is a five-fold increased risk that an abused victim will be murdered by her partner. Homicide is the second leading cause of fatal work injuries for women (it is the fourth leading cause for men).10 21% of all work-related homicides of women (and 2% of work-related homicides of men) were caused by a relative or intimate partner. Nearly 33% of women killed in U.S. workplaces between 2003-2008 were killed by a current or former intimate partner. In 2011, nearly two-thirds of women murdered with firearms were killed by male intimate partners.


As a result of the high correlation between domestic violence and firearms fatalities, Congress has enacted various laws to restrict domestic violence perpetrators’ access to rearms.


Read more


Serious Intimate Partner Violence on the Decline The rate of serious intimate partner violence, such as rape, sexual assault, robbery or aggravated assault, declined 72 percent for females between 1994 and 2011, according to statistics released today by the Bureau of


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