Workplace Violence and Aggression: A Guide for U.S. Employers
Resolution Education is a U.S. specialist Workplace Violence Prevention Training provider.
This guide explains workplace violence, the four types, who is most at risk, what U.S. employers are required to do, and how to reduce the risk.
What is Workplace Violence?
OSHA defines workplace violence as any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation or other threatening behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from verbal abuse and threats to physical assault and homicide, and it can cause both physical and psychological harm.
Workplace violence can come from outside the organization, such as customers, patients, clients or members of the public, or from inside it, such as colleagues, supervisors and managers.
Examples of workplace violence and aggression include:
- Biting
- Kicking
- Pushing
- Striking and punching
- Throwing objects at someone
- Spitting or coughing on someone
- Sexual assault
- Threatening behavior
- Intimidation
- Harassment
- Stalking
- Yelling and swearing at someone
Workplace violence can also be discriminatory, targeting people because of their sex, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. It can happen face-to-face, over the phone, by email or text, and on social media.
What Are the Four Types of Workplace Violence?
NIOSH, the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, groups workplace violence into four types based on the relationship between the perpetrator and the workplace:
- Type 1 – Criminal intent: the perpetrator has no legitimate relationship with the business, such as during a robbery or theft.
- Type 2 – Customer, client or patient: violence from the people a business serves. This is the most common type in healthcare.
- Type 3 – Worker-on-worker: threats, bullying or violence between current or former employees.
- Type 4 – Personal relationship: someone with a personal relationship to an employee, such as a current or former partner, brings violence into the workplace.
Each type needs a different prevention approach. Resolution Education’s workplace violence prevention training covers all four.
Who Is Most at Risk of Workplace Violence?
Workplace violence can happen in any organization, but workers who deal directly with the public or provide care and services face the highest risk. According to NIOSH, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 2020, 20,050 private-industry workers needed time away from work after nonfatal workplace violence, and 76% of them worked in healthcare and social assistance. That same year, 392 U.S. workers died from workplace homicide.
Industries and occupations at higher risk include:
- Healthcare and social assistance – nurses, physicians, EMS, social workers
- Public safety and administration – police, security officers, corrections officers
- Retail and hospitality – pharmacies, gas stations, convenience stores, bars
- Transportation – bus drivers, taxi and rideshare drivers, airline staff
- Education – teachers and paraprofessionals
Common risk factors include exchanging money with the public, working with volatile or unstable people, working alone or in isolated areas, providing services and care, working where alcohol is served, and working late at night or in high-crime areas.
How Does Workplace Violence Affect People and Organizations?
Workplace violence harms the person targeted and anyone who witnesses it. Effects can include physical injury, stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as loss of confidence, withdrawal and feelings of isolation.
For organizations, the costs include lost productivity, absenteeism, staff turnover, workers’ compensation claims, legal exposure and damage to workplace culture. The impact also reaches employees’ families and the wider community.
What Laws Apply and What Do Employers Need To Do?
OSHA does not have a specific workplace violence standard. However, under the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, employers must provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. OSHA treats workplace violence as a recognized hazard and has enforcement procedures for citing employers. This applies whether the violence comes from colleagues or from customers, clients, patients or the public.
As of 2026, OSHA penalties can reach $16,550 per serious violation and $165,514 per willful or repeated violation.
There are also 29 OSHA-approved State Plans, which must be at least as effective as federal OSHA, and some states and sectors have specific workplace violence requirements, including California’s SB 553, New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act and The Joint Commission’s standards for hospitals. See workplace violence prevention training for details.
To meet their obligations, employers should treat violence and aggression like any other workplace hazard: identify the risks, then take reasonable steps to eliminate or reduce them.
These measures may include:
- Implementing safe work systems and procedures for preventing and responding to incidents
- Establishing workplace policies around boundaries
- Ensuring employees receive adequate information, training and supervision on their duties and how to effectively perform them
- Reporting and reviewing incidents
- Supporting employees during and after an incident occurs
- Consulting with workers and health and safety representatives on any issues
How Can Employers Identify & Control the Risks?
A key first step is a zero-tolerance policy toward violence and aggression that applies to everyone, including employees, patients, clients, visitors and contractors. The policy should be clearly communicated, and every report should be promptly investigated and addressed.
Identifying risks starts with a thorough workplace environment assessment, carried out with input from employees, safety committees and external workplace violence prevention specialists. Reviewing incident reports, injury records and customer feedback also helps pinpoint where and when violence is most likely.
Once risks are identified, employers can put controls in place, such as physical barriers, safe work systems, duress alarms, security measures, clear policies and procedures, and workplace violence prevention training.
Controls should be monitored and reviewed regularly. Employers should keep checking with employees whether incidents are decreasing and whether new risks have emerged, and analyze every reported incident so they can adjust as needed.
What Should Employees Do?
Employees play an important part in their own safety and the safety of others. That means following workplace policies and safety procedures, taking reasonable care of their own health and safety, and never engaging in violent or hostile behavior themselves.
Employees should attend any training provided and, where it is safe to do so, use de-escalation and disengagement techniques to respond to an incident.
When a situation becomes unsafe, employees should call for help from colleagues, security or others nearby, activate a duress alarm if one is available, or remove themselves by moving to a safe location, asking the aggressor to leave or ending a phone call. In serious situations, call 911.
Under OSHA, workers may refuse dangerous work only in limited circumstances: they must believe in good faith that there is an imminent danger of death or serious injury, a reasonable person would agree, there is no time to fix the hazard through normal channels, and, where possible, they have asked the employer to remove the danger.
After an incident, employees should get medical attention if needed and seek psychological support from colleagues, counseling services or an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). They should record what happened, including when, where and who was involved, and report it to their supervisor, HR or a designated person. Reporting unwanted or offensive behavior early can stop it from escalating into more serious violence.
Who Else Can Help?
- Your local Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Visit OSHA’s Office Directory to locate a regional or area office by state or ZIP code.
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)- Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636)- Website: cdc.gov/niosh/violence
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) – Website: cdc.gov/violence-prevention
- The Joint Commission for healthcare employers – Phone: (630) 792-5000
- State Departments of Labor or OSHA Plans. 29 states and territories run their own OSHA-approved plans with stricter violence rules osha.gov/stateplans
Contact Us
Resolution Education USA
P. +1 (888) 311-8650
E. info@resolutioneducation.com
Head Office – Minnesota
2909 S Wayzata Blvd,
Minneapolis, MN 55405