title: Characteristics of workplace threats requiring response from a university threat assessment team.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In response to concerns about campus violence, universities are implementing threat assessment teams. In 2008, a large university's new threat assessment team began to identify and respond to potentially harmful situations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Events that involved the threat assessment team from August 2008 through December 2010 were examined to describe subjects, referral sources, and team actions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The team responded to 284 events-approximately 10 per month. Employees were the subject in 21.5% of events, students in 60.2%, and visitors in 18.3%. External threats, including assaults, threats, harassment, and stalking, comprised 49.5% of cases, and internal threats, including suicide attempt/ideation and mental health or behavior concerns, comprised 50.5%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The university team responded to a wide variety of events referred from multiple units across campus and that involved a combination of employees, students, and visitors.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Epidemiology,University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center, Iowa City, Iowa 52252, USA.
authors.forename: YanYan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Jingzhen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Marizen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peek-Asa
mesh_terms: D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017751:Safety Management; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration