NCCI Releases New Study on Workplace Violence

Posted by Ross Arrowsmith on Wednesday, September 3rd 2008 under Workplace Violence

from National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI Holdings Inc.)

Download the report: Violence in the Workplace—An Updated Analysis

This is the fourth in a series of NCCI reports on workplace violence. It provides updated data and analyses based on the latest available information from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on workplace homicides and assaults by persons and from NCCI on the characteristics of claims associated with workplace violence.

Key finding included in this analysis include:
- Progress continues to be made in reducing workplace violence, both homicides and assaults. Workplace homicide rates are trending decidedly lower, down 25% between 2000 and 2006 and down 61% since 1992.

- Workplace assaults rates have been more volatile on a year-to year basis. Recently, the rate declined 20% in 2005 (the largest drop since 1998) and then turned up 6% in 2006. Nationally, assault rates (in term of aggravated assaults per 100,000 inhabitants) have shown a more consistent downward pattern.

- Robberies continue to be the major cause of workplace homicides, accounting for roughly 70% of such deaths. The latest data is consistent with prior results that show that the primary victims of workplace homicides are in occupations where there is direct customer contact and where cash or other valuables are accessible, such as sales (e.g., cash register operators), security guards, and taxi drivers.

- Workplace assaults continue to concentrated in health services, social assistance, and personal care occupations. Workers in nursing homes are major victims, with roughly 50% of assaults in the healthcare industry occurring in such facilities.

- NCCI claims data provides separate breakouts for claims involving “in act of crime.” Such claims are nine times more likely to involve a fatality than non-crime-related claims (2.7% of crime-related claims involve a fatality vs. 0.3% for all other claims).

- NCCI data also indicates that nonfatal crime-related claims, on average, involve more serious injuries—particularly to the head and central nervous system—than do non-crime claims (where back strains and sprains are more prevalent).

- In part because of the more serious nature of their injuries, crime-related claims have higher indemnity and medical severity (i.e., cost per claim) than other claims when claims are classified by cause of injury. (As in previous studies, traffic accidents continue to have the highest severity.)

Download the report: Violence in the Workplace—An Updated Analysis