VIOLENCE AT WORKPLACE

SCOPE

INTRODUCTION
DIFINITION
TYPES OF COMMITTERS OF WORKPLACE
VIOLENCE
TYPES OF VIOLENCE
OCCUPATIONAL AND SITUATION AT RISK

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 INTRODUCTION

• Violence is variety of destructive behaviours which

cause harm to people.
• Can occur at or outside the workplace & can range
from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults
and homicide.
• Can have a severe impact on the health, safety and
welfare of workers.
• Cause significant economic and social cost to the
victim, their family, the business in which they work
and the community
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 DEFINITIONS

• ILO
Any action, incident or behaviour that departs from reasonable
conduct in which a person is assaulted, threatened, harmed,
injured in the course of, or as a direct result of, his or her work.
 Internal workplace violence is that which takes place between
workers, including managers and supervisors.
 External workplace violence is that which takes place between
workers (and managers and supervisors) and any other
person present at the workplace.

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 DEFINITIONS

• DOSH Malaysia
An incident where employees are abused, threatened, assaulted
or subject to other offensive behavior in circumstances related
to their work.

• WHO
The intention use of power, threatened or actual, against
another person or against a group, in work-related
circumstances, that either results in or has a high degree of
likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm,
maldevelopment, or deprivation” 5
TYPES OF COMMITTERS OF
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

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 Table 1. Typology of workplace violence
Type Description
I: External or • The committer has no legitimate relationship to the business or its
Criminal intruder employee
• Usually enters the affected workplace to commit a criminal act.
E.g.: robbery, shoplifting, trespassing, and terrorism.

II: Customer/client • The committer has a legitimate relationship with the business
• Becomes violent while being served by the business.
• Includes: customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, and any
other group for which the business provides services.
• Worker who may be exposed: Police officers, prison staff, flight
attendants, medical staffs etc.

III: Worker-on-worker • The committers has some employment related involvement with the
/internal affected workplace.
committers • Involves an assault by current/former employee, supervisor or
manager

• The committer usually does not have relationship with the business
IV: Personal
but has a personal relationship with the intended victim.
relationship
• by current/former spouse or lover, a relative or friend

Sources: CAL/OSHA 1995

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TYPES OF VIOLENCE

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Assault/Attack
• Attempt at physical injury or attack
on a person leading to actual
physical harm.
• Example:
– Beating
– Kicking
– Slapping

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Threat
• Promised use of unlawful force
resulting in fear of physical, sexual,
psychological harm or other
negative consequences to the
victim(s).

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 Bullying/Mobbing

• Repeated, unreasonable actions of individuals (or a group)

directed towards an employee (or a group of employees),
which is intended to intimidate and creates a risk to the
health and safety of the employee(s). Often involves an
abuse or misuse of power.
• Bullying includes:
– Behaviour that intimidates, degrades, offends, or
humiliates a worker, often in front of others.

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Harassment
• Unwanted conduct - verbal, non verbal, visual,
psychological or physical – based on age,
disability, HIV status, domestic circumstances,
sex, sexual orientation, race, colour, language,
religion, political, trade union or other opinion or
belief, national or social origin, association with a
minority, birth or other status that negatively
affects the dignity of men and women at work.

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Sexual harassment
• Unwanted conduct of a sexual that
is perceived by the victim as placing
a condition of sexual nature on
her/his employment, or that might,
on reasonable grounds, be
perceived by the victim(s) as an
offence or humiliation or a threat to
his/her well-being.

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 Form of Sexual harassment
Verbal Harassment e.g. offensive Non-verbal/Gestural Harassment: e.g. hand signal
or suggestive remarks, comments and jokes or sign language denoting sexual

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 Form of Sexual harassment
Visual Harassment: e.g. showing pornographic materials,
drawing sex-based sketches

Physical Harassment e.g. inappropriate touching,

pinching, brushing up against the body, hugging,
sexual assault & etc.

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Occupational and situation at risk

• Work alone
- small shops, petrol station, taxi driver
• Working in contact with the public
- police officer, nurse, worker providing social worker
• Working with valuables and cash handling
- financial institution, gold shops
• Working with people in distress
- worker in health care sectors
• Working with an environment increasingly open to violence
- teachers , workers from call centers
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THE END