Workplace Violence: Impact and Prevention

Workplace violence has been increasing in the United States for the past several decades. It affects everyone, not just those who have direct experience with it in employment situations. The authors de-scribe the extent of the problem and provide recommendations regarding how managers and helping professionals can help prevent violent and abusive behavior from occurring in the workplace. They also. describe proven strategies for effectively dealing with these kinds of incidents when they do materialize. I t has been widely reported that incidents of work-place violence are increasing at a rapid pace in both the public and private sectors in the United States (Elliott & Jarrett, 1994; Musacco, 2009;). Stories of hostility and aggression can be found on a daily basis in our newspapers, on the radio and television, and even in our homes (Chenier, 1998; Keirn, 1999). Unfortunately, our places of employment are not immune to this epi-demic (Chenier, 1998). No employee, whether he or she is a production worker at the lowest level of the company or an executive at the top of the organization expects to go to work and be killed or severely injure