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Hospital administration - Source: ONE News
More than half of workplaces have experienced violence, a new
survey has found.
The Massey University survey of 96 organisations found nearly a
fifth of the 2466 cases reported involved physical injury and 175
cases led to lost time and/or hospitalisation.
This accounted for a total of 572 lost working days directly
attributable to workplace violence.
The health sector had the highest rate of workplace violence with
42 of the 175 most serious cases of physical assault. The rate is
five times the magnitude of the next highest sector,
agriculture.
The 2011 New Zealand Workplace Violence Survey aimed to find out
the incidence and nature of workplace violence and identify sectors
affected.
Study co-author Dr Bevan Catley, of the Healthy Work Group in the
School of Management, said the incidence rate for all violence
cases, of 32.3 per 1000 employees, was very high compared to rates
reported by researchers in North America and Europe.
"In dollar terms, the 572 lost days represents a significant cost
to industry, especially when extrapolated across the entire New
Zealand workforce and indirect costs such as training, litigation
and compensation are taken into account," Catley said.
"Clearly workplace bullying is a multi-million dollar problem and
deserves further attention."
The survey covered a range of sectors including manufacturing,
health, public administration, scientific and technical services,
education, construction, agriculture and utility services.
Violence reported ranged from attempted assault on people and
damage to property to serious physical assault.
The health sector, which covers health care and social assistance,
included nearly a quarter of the more serious physical assault
cases.
Catley said while the survey respondents, who were mostly health
and safety managers, identified an impressive array of
interventions, it was concerning that just 50% formally recognised
violence as a hazard in the workplace.
"Interestingly, workloads and time pressure also received
relatively high ratings, suggesting work-related stress increases
the perceived risk of violence in the workplace," Catley
said.
The online study - which represents over 76,000 New Zealand
employees, approximately 4% of the workforce - is the biggest yet
and was based on workplace data from 2009.
It showed a higher incidence of physical violence than observed for
the 2007 workplace violence survey, which reported 143 cases of
physical assault from the 62 organisations responding.
Participating organisations were mainly located in the main New
Zealand cities and population centres.
Read the full study
here.
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