Violence at Work (UK)

Violence at Work Statistics

The three main sources of data on violence at work in the UK are:

• British Crime Surveys (BCS)

• Reports made to HSE/ local authorities under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

• HSE's Fit3 worker survey 2006

 

National Trends

The number of incidents of violence at work has fallen by 51 per cent since 1995.

In recent years, both the results of British Crime Surveys and the RIDDOR reports collated by the HSE have indicated that levels of work-related violence have been fairly stable.

 

STOP PRESS: Findings from the 2008/9 BCS on Violence at Work have been published (Jan 2010): Click Here

 

Previous British Crime Survey Findings

Findings from the 2006/2007 British Crime Survey (BCS) indicate that there were 684,000 incidents of violence at work during 2006-2007, comprising 288,000 assaults and 397,000 threats.

Although working in certain occupations brings an increased risk of violence, taken nationally the risk of being a victim of an assault or threat of violence at work is actually quite low.

The 2006/07 BCS estimated that 1.7% of working adults were the victim of one or more violent incidents at work in the year before their interview; 0.7% had been physically assaulted while they were working and 1% had been threatened.

Violence resulted in 6,404 injuries that were reportable under RIDDOR. Of these, four were fatalities, 932 resulted in major injuries and nearly 5500 caused non-major injury.

In the majority of incidents (62%), the victim did not know the offender.

In 15% of cases the offender was a client or a member of public known through work and in just 6 per cent of cases the offender was a workmate or colleague of the victim.

In about a third (35%) of incidents the offender was under the influence of alcohol and in a sixth (15%) of incidents the offender was under the influence of drugs.

Overall levels of 'concern about violence at work' are low.

Among all adults in work, 2% said they were very worried about being assaulted by a member of the public while at work (2005/06 BCS). 

Concern about violence at work varied considerably with occupation.

Thirty-two per cent of workers in protective service occupations, such as police officers, who had contact with the public were very or fairly worried about assaults at work, compared with eight per cent of workers in business and public service associate professionals.

Twenty-two per cent of workers who had contact with members of the public thought it very or fairly likely that they would be threatened at work in the next year. Nine per cent of workers with face-to-face contact with the public thought it very or fairly likely that they would be assaulted.

 

Who is most at risk?

The British Crime Survey 2004/05 indicated that workers in protective service occupations are the most at risk of violence, with an estimated 8.8 assaults per 1000 workers. Next, in terms of being most at risk of experiencing violence at work, are managers and proprietors in services*, transport drivers and operatives and leisure and other personal service occupations. After them comes health and social care professionals at 1.1 assaults per thousand workers.

The British Crime Survey 2004/05 recorded the incidence of verbal abuse. The results showed that those most likely to experience verbal abuse were people working as managers and proprietors in services, alongside health and social care professionals with 2.3 workers per 1000 experiencing verbal threats.

 

NOTE: For BCS purposes:

The British Crime Survey definition of work-related violence is: All assaults or threats which occurred while the victim was working, that were perpetuated by members of the public. This does not include verbal abuse.

'Protective services' includes police, fire, prison and protective service associate professionals (includes security)

'Managers and proprietors in services' includes publicans and managers of licensed premises, leisure and sports managers, property housing and land managers and shopkeepers.

'Health professionals' includes medical practitioners, dentists and psychologists

'Health and social care professionals' includes nurses, midwives, paramedics, youth and community workers and housing and welfare officers.

'Caring personal service' includes nursing auxiliaries, ambulance (excluding paramedics), care assistants, nursery nurses and child minders

'Leisure and other personal services' includes sports and leisure assistants, air travel assistants, rail travel assistants, hairdressers, caretakers and pest control officers.

 

Occupation and industry

The highest estimated rates of injuries reported to HSE through RIDDOR were found in the minor occupational groupings of prison service officers below principal officer (1187 per 100,000 workers), police officers of the rank of sergeant and below (478 per 100,000 workers) and bus and coach drivers (301 per 100,000 workers).

 

Age and genderof victims

The risk of assault is slightly higher for males. Estimates in the BCS 2006/07 show that 1.9% of men were victims of violence in the 12 months prior to interviews, compared with 1.3% of women.

The highest risk age groups for both men and women is 25-34.

 

HSE RIDDOR Reports Summary

Note: HSE define work related violence as:

‘Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work'.

There were 6,404 RIDDOR reported injuries caused by 'violence at work' during the financial year 2006/07. These comprise 4 fatal injuries, 932 major injuries and 5,468 non-major injuries that resulted in absence from work for at least three days. This compares to 6,624 RIDDOR reported injuries caused by violence in 2005/06.

The highest estimated rates of fatal, major and over 3-day injuries reported to HSE through RIDDOR were found in the minor occupational groupings of prison service officers below principal officer (1187 per 100,000 workers), police officers (sergeant and below) (478 per 100,000 workers) and bus and coach drivers (301 per 100,000 workers).

Most RIDDOR reported incidence of violence occurred in the broad industry grouping of services reflecting the occupations with highest rates.

NHS: According to the HSE's RIDDOR scheme, 60 nurses sustained major injuries because of violence and 612 reported injuries requiring more than three days' sickness absence in 2007. Among HCAs and nursing auxiliaries, there were 49 major injuries and 452 requiring more than three days' absence.

Education: HSE figures show in 2007/8, 176 school staff suffered acts of violence, 26 attacks resulted in major injuries and 150 kept staff away from ordinary duties for three days or more. This included 17 injuries suffered by nursery or primary teachers and 33 staff who worked in special schools.

 

HSE's Fit3 worker survey 2006 Summary

Estimates from the '2006 'Fit3 employee survey' suggested that 16% of workers were subjected to abuse or violence in the previous three months. 67% of these victims experienced violence at work more than once and 66% of victims knew the person who was abusive or violent towards them. The Fit3 employee survey also indicated that as many as 33% of victims of workplace violence or abuse do not report the incident. The most common reasons given for non-reporting included dealing with the matter themselves and feeling it was too trivial to mention. 14% believed management would not have done anything about it. 23% of respondents to the Fit3 employee survey say they know of no mechanisms in place to protect them from violence or abuse.