rcent) of the attacks involved fist fights, 8 percent were stabbings and 17 percent involved firearms. Homicide is the third leading cause of workplace fatalities for all workers, and the leading cause of workplace fatalities for women. Some states have ruled that employers who fail to provide a safe work environment for their employees can be held financially liable for violence which occurs in the workplace, which places additional burdens on small companies which may not be able to weather such violence (Coco, 1998, p. 15).
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has the authority to investigate and cite employers who do not provide a safe workplace for employees; this is contained in the "general duty" clause of the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act. At the time that the Act was passed, the emphasis was on safety as it related to the performance of an employee's tasks. Violence in the workplace was not specifically addressed at that time, and was not even considered a serious problem (Bowman and Zigmond, 1997, p. 289). In 1996, OSHA has responded to increased incidents of workplace violence by issuing voluntary guidelines, not mandatory standards, which focus on the health care and social service workplaces. These guidelines were augmented by draft guidelines regarding night retail establishments; OSHA has determined that these three environments are particularly vulnerable to violence based on statistics. In addition, the agency has established risk factors which may indicate an increased level of danger of work related assaults. Included in these risk factors are exchanging money with the public, working alone (or having only a small number of employees on site), working late at night or early in the morning, working in high crime areas, and delivering goods or services (Yohay and Peppe, 1996, p. 22).
Companies which are serious about preventing violence in the workplace need to develo...