Types of Workplace Violence
Occupational health researchers have classified workplace violence into the following four types:
Type 1: Criminal Intent
In Type 1 violence, the perpetrator has no legitimate relationship to the business or its employees, and is usually committing a crime in conjunction with the violence (robbery, shoplifting, trespassing).
Four Types of Workplace Violence
Type 2: Customer/Client-on-Worker
Type 2 violence is the most common in healthcare settings. It deals with the customer/client relationship to include clients, patients, family members, and visitors, and is referred to as client-on-worker violence. In the healthcare industry, research shows that this type of violence occurs most frequently in emergency and psychiatric treatment settings, waiting rooms, and geriatric settings, but is by no means limited to these.
Type 3: Worker-on-Worker
Type 3 violence between coworkers is commonly referred to as lateral or horizontal violence. It includes bullying and frequently manifests as verbal and emotional abuse that is unfair, offensive, vindictive, and/or humiliating though it can range all the way to homicide. Worker-on-worker violence is often directed at persons viewed as being "lower on the food chain," such as in a supervisor to employee though the incidence of peer to peer violence is also common.
Type 4: Personal Relationship
In Type 4 violence, the perpetrator has a relationship to the employee outside of work that spills over to the work environment. For example, the husband of an employee follows her to work, orders her home and threatens her, with implications for not only this employee but also for her coworkers and visitors.
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4-2. Which type of violence is most common in healthcare settings?
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