Work Related Injuries Caused by Violence

Eight per cent of work-related injuries sustained by employees result from a physical assault by either a customer or colleague, new research has claimed.

The research from AXA Insurance suggests that as many as one in ten people have sustained an injury in the work place in the past five years. The study revealed that while employee injuries are most likely to be caused by work-related accidents (81%), for example, using machinery and tripping over, 8% are caused by violence at work.

The study found that it is the professional services industry, which includes lawyers, consultants and accountants, that experiences the highest level of physical assault with as many as 15% of employees working in the sector being assaulted by a customer.

In recent weeks new legislation aimed at tackling violence against NHS and emergency services staff has been proposed. The plans, developed by the NHS Security Management Services, propose a £1,000 fine, together with the power to remove individuals who are threatening or abusive to NHS staff.

The research also found that employees who work for large companies (250 employees or more) are almost twice as likely to suffer an injury while working compared to those employed by small and medium-sized companies (10 to 250 employees). Like SMEs, smaller businesses (one to nine employees) also had a better record for workplace accidents and injuries when compared with large companies - 17% of small business employees have suffered injuries at work compared to 47% in large companies.

Workplace accidents account for the most injuries at work and one third of all injuries are the result of falls or trips. Strains and sprains are the most common result of an accident – 34% of workplace accidents resulted in these types of injuries.

The AXA study also found that employees aged over 50 are most likely to have a fall while doing their job (47%) compared to 28% of 18-29 year olds and nearly one in ten of those injured UK employees (9%) complain of Repetitive Strain Inquiry (RSI) or other injuries caused by the working environment.

Source: Workplace Law Network

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