Safe and secure at work?: findings from the 2002 Workplace Risk Supplement

Abstract

Objective: To examine employee's perception of safety and related workplace safety and prevention issues, including their use of self-protection measures and victimization experience.

Participants: The Workplace Risk Supplement (WRS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) was administered to 55,158 employed respondents who were 16 years or older.

Methods: Trained U.S. Census Bureau interviewers administered the WRS in all households selected for the NCVS during the 6-month reference period from January through June 2002. Responses from the 55,158 WRS respondents were weighted to obtain national estimates, resulting in 142,410,858 cases.

Results: The demographic distribution of WRS respondents is very similar to that of the U.S. labor force. Seven percent of respondents reported that they worried about someone in their workplace attacking them, while nearly 4% experienced victimization. The majority indicated that they felt that their workplace, the neighborhood around their workplace, and places they traveled to as part of their job were either "Very Safe" or "Somewhat Safe" from crime. Six percent carried some type of self protection while at work although this varied by occupation.

Conclusions: Employees largely feel safe from violence while working. Differences in victimization by occupation bolster efforts to focus workplace violence prevention in high-risk occupations.