The role of insurance in combatting workplace violence
Kathleen Bonczyk, founder of the Workplace Violence Prevention Institute, discusses the role insurers can play in reducing workplace violence.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 392 workers in the U.S. were victims of workplace homicide in 2020. In addition to those killed, more than 20,000 workers in private industry experienced trauma from non-fatal workplace violence in 2020 and had to take time off of work; over a fifth of them required 31 or more days away from their job to recover.
Over a 27-year period from 1992 to 2019, almost 18,000 people were killed by violence that happened at work, on duty or due to something work-related, according to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Institute for Safety and Health. Around 529,000 people received hospital emergency department treatment for non-fatal workplace violence injuries during this period.
Of those treated, 82% were victims of physical assault, including beating, hitting or kicking, with these physical assault injuries mainly consisting of contusions and abrasions (33%), sprains and strains (12%) and traumatic brain injuries (12%).
While the numbers on workplace violence seem pretty straight-forward, the solutions to curbing it are less obvious.
In this episode of Insurance Speak, we revisit a 2023 conversation with Kathleen Bonczyk discussing how employers can make strides to prevent incidents of workplace violence, and how insurers can help drive that process. Bonczyk is an attorney and researcher, as well as the founder and executive director of the Workplace Violence Prevention Institute, which provides workplace violence prevention research, educating and training.
To hear our full conversation, listen to the podcast above or subscribe to Insurance Speak on Spotify, Apple Music or Libsyn.