This initiative
which started in early 2002 is the result of a congressional appropriation of
$2 million. Congress directed NIOSH
to
develop an intramural and extramural prevention research program that will
target all aspects of workplace violence and to coordinate its efforts with the
Departments of Justice and Labor.
In terms of
extramural research, five
grants totaling approximately $1.8 million were funded in September 2002.
The intramural funding is being used in the following areas:
A Federal
Interagency Task Force on Workplace Violence Research and Prevention has been
developed and the inaugural meeting was held
The NIOSH Initiative
also includes an outreach component comprised of stakeholder meetings focused
on four different areas of workplace violence(violence in health care settings,
violence in retail trade, domestic violence in the workplace, and violence
against law enforcement and security professions) to participate in separate
meetings that will provide an opportunity for stakeholders who have an interest
in workplace violence issues to share information about their organization;
identify possible research gaps; and, identify opportunities for collaborative
efforts.
Several research
efforts are also encompassed under the initiative including analysis of the
Workplace Risk Supplement that NIOSH funded as a special supplement to the
National Crime Victimization for the period January through June of 2002, a
telephone survey of workers treated for work-related assault injuries in a
sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments, and planning for a survey of
employers with regard to workplace violence policies, training, and related
issues to be conducted in collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) maintains a database of injuries treated in a
nationally representative sample of
The current study
consists of a telephone interview survey of workers treated in NEISS hospital EDs for injuries sustained during a work-related assault.
The data collection will occur over a one year period. The survey includes an
extended narrative description of the injury incident as well as items
regarding general workplace organization; personal characteristics of the
worker; work tasks at the time of the assault; training on workplace violence
risk factors and prevention strategies; security measures in place and how they
impacted the outcome of the incident; and return to work after the assault.
This study will provide critical information for understanding the nature and
impact of nonfatal assault among
In 2001, there were
639 workplace homicides in the
As the risks for
workplace violence have been more completely described and recognized over the
last decade, states and other policy-makers have begun to develop statutes,
administrative regulations, or technical assistance information for workplace
violence prevention. Unfortunately, there have been no rigorous evaluations of
the effectiveness of any of the regulatory or other state-based efforts
undertaken to date.
NIOSH is conducting
an inventory of state-based approaches to workplace violence prevention to
serve as a starting point for in-depth evaluations of the various efforts that
have been implemented. Preliminary results indicate that there are some states,
such as California and Washington, that have mandated requirements for training
or other assessment of workplace violence risks, especially in particular high
risk settings such as health care or late night retail. Others, such as
The National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been conducting research on
workplace violence risk factors and prevention strategies for a number of years
using data from NIOSH sources, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Bureau
of Justice Statistics, the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, and
others. The vast majority of the knowledge regarding workplace violence is
based on information about worker victims of violent incidents, both fatal and
nonfatal. Very little information exists regarding policies, training, and
other related issues from an employer's perspective. The employers' perspective
is a critical gap in the current workplace violence prevention effort.
To help fill this
gap, The NIOSH and the BLS are conducting a survey of
For More Information go to: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/injury/traumaviol_research.html