title: Understanding workplace violence: the value of a systems perspective.
abstract: Workplace violence is a leading form of occupational injury and fatality, but has received little attention from the ergonomics research community. The paper reports findings from the 2012 New Zealand Workplace Violence Survey, and examines the workplace violence experience of 86 New Zealand organisations and the perceptions of occupational health and safety professionals from a systems perspective. Over 50% of respondents reported violence cases in their organisation, with perpetrators evenly split between co-workers and external sources such as patients. Highest reported levels of violence were observed for agriculture, forestry and construction sectors. Highest risk factor ratings were reported for interpersonal and organisational factors, notably interpersonal communication, time pressure and workloads, with lowest ratings for environmental factors. A range of violence prevention measures were reported, although most organisations relied on single control measures, suggesting unmanaged violence risks were common among the sample.
authors.affiliation: New Zealand Work Research Institute, Faculty of Business and Law, AUT University, 42 Wakefield St., Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: tim.bentley@aut.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Tim A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Bentley
authors.affiliation: Healthy Work Group, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: b.e.catley@massey.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Bevan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Catley
authors.affiliation: Healthy Work Group, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: d.forsyth@massey.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Darryl
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Forsyth
authors.affiliation: Healthy Work Group, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: d.c.tappin@massey.ac.nz.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tappin
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D016272:Occupational Health; D011584:Psychology; D012306:Risk; D013597:Systems Analysis; D064450:Workplace Violence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Occupational health and safety professionals; Psychosocial risk; Workplace violence