NIOSH DVD focuses on preventing workplace violence

A new training and educational DVD from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) provides employers, employees, safety professionals, and others with recommendations and resources for preventing work-related homicides and assaults.

"Violence on the Job" discusses practical measures for identifying risk factors for violence at work and taking strategic action to keep employees safe. It is based on extensive NIOSH research, supplemented with information from other authoritative sources.

Homicide in the workplace is the third leading cause of job-related fatalities and the second leading cause of job-related fatalities for women. Each week in the U.S., 17 employees on average are murdered at work, and 33,000 on average are assaulted. Factors that place workers at risk for violence in the workplace include interacting with the public, exchanging money, delivering services or goods, working late at night or during early morning hours, working alone, guarding valuables or property, and dealing with violent people or volatile situations.