Violence in the Workplace and Domestic Abuse Pt1
Helen Grimbleby
Helen Grimbleby
According to a joint study by Cardiff and Plymouth Universities published this week and reviewed in the press, 5% of the British workforce experience violence in the workplace with 3.8% being injured.
The reported message is that violence is more common than previously thought, yet these statistics do not surprise me at all.
Why – because 75% of domestic abuse victims are targeted at work.
Using the same workforce numbers as the report one could expect 10% of that number to represent a snapshot of current victims of domestic abuse in the workforce based on Devon County Council consultation 2004-2007 as reported here.
That’s a staggering 2 million victims in the workforce.
If 75% of those victims are targeted at work then 1.5 million victims of domestic abuse are targeted at work. Not all of these incidents will be violent in nature but it is clear that domestic abuse must be a significant contributor to violence in the workplace.
It is important therefore that any policies on violence in the workplace must consider the particular issues which relate to domestic abuse.
Helen Grimbleby
*Opinions are individual to the author.
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