Violence at work: findings from 2017/18 Crime Survey for England and Wales

Findings from the 2015/16 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) show that:

• The risk of work related violence is similar in 2015/16 to the last five years, with an estimated 1.4 per cent of working adults the victims of one or more violent incidents at work.
• In 2015/16 350,000 adults of working age in employment experienced work related violence including threats and physical assault.
• There were estimated 698,000 incidents of violence at work according to the 2015/16 CSEW, comprising 329,000 assaults and 369,000 threats. The number of assaults was broadly similar to the last few years however the number of threats was significantly higher due to the inclusion of  work-related online threats  for the first time.
• The 2015/16 CSEW found that 1.3% of women and 1.5% of men were victims of violence at work once or more during the year prior to their interview.
• It is estimated that 56% of victims reported one incident of work related violence whilst 18 % experienced two incidents of work related violence and 26% experienced three or more incidents in 2015/16.
• Strangers were the offenders in 46% of cases of workplace violence. Among the 54% of incidents where the offender was known, the offenders were most likely to be clients or a member of the public known through work.
• 67% per cent of violence at work resulted in no physical injury, of the remaining 33% of cases, minor bruising or a black eye accounted for the majority of the injuries recorded.
• RIDDOR reported 4,697 injuries to employees, where the ‘kind of accident’ was ‘physical assault/act of violence’ in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). This represents 6.5% of all reported workplace injuries. Of this figure, there was one death. (RIDDOR, 2015/16p).