Workplace violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: March–October, 2020, United States

Tiesman, Hope M.; Marsh, Suzanne M.; Konda, Srinivas; Tomasi, Suzanne; Wiegand, Douglas M.; Hales, Thomas C.; Webb, S. J.

doi:10.1016/j.jsr.2022.07.004

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…During times of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, systematically collected sources of data may not be readily available. This study and the Tiesman et al [ 12 ] study have both demonstrated that media scrapings to identify workplace events such as WPV may be a useful approach when other sources of data are not readily available.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…al. [ 12 ] as described in the introduction. The latter study included WPV events occurring between 1 March 2020 and 31 October 2020, while the current study continued through 31 August 2021, as part of a larger literature review effort.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…al. [ 12 ]. The Tiesman et al study used multiple search engines to improve coverage and reduce bias from the use of a single site.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because there was a dearth of literature on WPV related to COVID-19 prevention policies in the U.S. in 2020, NIOSH undertook two projects to capture WPV events to provide a more thorough understanding of the circumstances surrounding WPV related to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The first of these by Tiesman et al [ 12 ], described elsewhere [ 12 ], used two search strategies and five search engines (i.e., , , , , and ) to retrospectively identify news events occurring from March 2020 to October 2020, and found that mask mandates were associated with a large proportion of violent incidents early in the pandemic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This manuscript presents an analysis of these media reports on WPV to describe trends, the context of each event, and characteristics of the perpetrators and victims. We also obtained event descriptions from the prior media analysis of WPV related to COVID-19 [ 12 ] and compared events of WPV identified in each study to evaluate inter-method reliability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occurrences of Workplace Violence Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, United States, March 2020 to August 2021

Marsh

Rocheleau

Carbone

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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As businesses dealt with an increasingly anxious public during the COVID-19 pandemic and were frequently tasked with enforcing various COVID-19 prevention policies such as mask mandates, workplace violence and harassment (WPV) emerged as an increasing important issue affecting worker safety and health. Publicly available media reports were searched for WPV events related to the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred during 1 March 2020, and 31 August 2021, using Google News aggregator services scans with data abstraction and verification. The search found 408 unique WPV events related to COVID-19. Almost two-thirds involved mask disputes. Over half (57%) of the 408 events occurred in retail (38%) and food service (19%). We also conducted a comparison of events identified in this search to a similar study of media reports between March 2020 to October 2020 that used multiple search engines to identify WPV events. Despite similar conclusions, a one-to-one comparison of relevant data from these studies found only modest overlap in the incidents identified, suggesting the need to make improvements to future efforts to extract data from media reports. Prevention resources such as training and education for workers may help industries de-escalate or prevent similar WPV events in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…al. [ 12 ]. The Tiesman et al study used multiple search engines to improve coverage and reduce bias from the use of a single site.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occurrences of Workplace Violence Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, United States, March 2020 to August 2021

Marsh

Rocheleau

Carbone

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Prevalence of workplace violence against young workers in the United States

Rauscher

Casteel

Davis

et al. 2023

American J Industrial Med

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Background Workers under the age of 25 may be at particular risk for workplace violence, given their predominant employment in the high‐risk retail and service industries. Little research exists, however, that estimates the scope of the problem within this population. To fill this gap, we conducted the first national study of workplace violence against young people in the United States. Methods We analyzed survey data collected via telephone interview from a national sample of 1031 young workers ages 14 through 24 who held a formal job in the last 12 months. Weighted frequencies were calculated and χ2 tests of significance were used to detect differences between groups. Results Many youth experience workplace violence (60%). Verbal abuse of the sort that made victims feel scared and unsafe (53%) and sexual harassment (24%) were the most commonly reported forms of violence. Females were more likely than males to experience workplace violence overall (p < 0.001) and sexual harassment (p < 0.001) in particular. Males were more likely to experience verbal abuse (p < 0.001). Workplace violence was most prevalent among workers in healthcare settings and eating and drinking places. The occupation with the highest prevalence of workplace violence was customer service. Conclusions Workplace violence is common among young workers in the United States and more widespread than prior estimates have suggested. This study is the first to provide a true national prevalence estimate of the problem of workplace violence among young workers ages 14 to 24 in the United States. These findings should be used to locate areas of concern and target resources where they are needed most to address this significant problem.

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Trends in workplace homicides in the U.S., 1994–2021: An end to years of decline

Hendricks,

Tiesman

et al. 2024

American J Industrial Med

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Workplace and non‐workplace homicides in the United States (U.S.) have declined for over 30 years until recently. This study was conducted to address the change in trends for both workplace and non‐workplace homicides and to evaluate the homogeneity of the change in workplace homicides by specified categories. Joinpoint and autoregressive models were used to assess trends of U.S. workplace and non‐workplace homicides utilizing surveillance data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1994 through 2021. Both workplace and non‐workplace homicides decreased significantly from 1994 through 2014. Workplace homicides showed no significant trend from 2014 through 2021 (p = 0.79), while non‐workplace homicides showed a significant average annual increase of 4.1% from 2014 through 2020 (p = 0.0013). The large decreases in the trend of workplace homicides occurring during a criminal act, such as robbery, leveled off and started to increase by the end of the study period (p < 0.0001). Declines in workplace homicides due to shootings also leveled off and started to increase by the end of the study period (p < 0.0001). U.S. workplace and non‐workplace homicide rates declined from the 1990s until around 2014. Trends in workplace homicides varied by the types of the homicide committed and by the type of employee that was the victim. Criminal‐intent‐related events, such as robbery, appear to be the largest contributor to changes in workplace homicides. Researchers and industry leaders could develop and evaluate interventions that further address criminal‐intent‐related workplace homicides.

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Workplace violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: March–October, 2020, United States

Cited by 18 publications

References 28 publications

Occurrences of Workplace Violence Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, United States, March 2020 to August 2021

Occurrences of Workplace Violence Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, United States, March 2020 to August 2021

Prevalence of workplace violence against young workers in the United States

Trends in workplace homicides in the U.S., 1994–2021: An end to years of decline

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