Violence in the workplace: personal and political issues

Abstract

Workplace violence has been defined by the European Commission (Wynne et al 1997) as "incidents where persons are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to their work, involving an explicit or implicit challenge to their safety, well-being or health". Violence at work therefore involves any incident in which employees and others are abused, threatened, assaulted or in extreme cases are victims of a homicide, in circumstances related to their work, or in the course of the work undertaken. It occurs in the workplace or in the course of carrying out day-to-day duties. It can be as subtle as innuendos and unspoken threats from employers or colleagues, or it can be overt acts of assault by employers or colleagues, or aggression from clients, or it can be inflicted by strangers who have no link with the workplace.