Gun Violence Statistics - Workplace Edition
August 1, 2014 9:07 AM Subscribe
I need help finding some statistics regarding workplace violence and - particularly separating out violence perpetrated by internal employees vs external 3rd parties.
I work for a conservative company in a conservative part of the country. This company does not ban fire arms in the workplace, as the state has concealed carry and open carry permits. During my visit to the corporate office, a co-worker told a "funny story" about forgetting where their loaded guns were.
This does not scream fire arm safety to me, and I broached the topic of a fire arms ban in the office with my superiors and HR. It was explained to me by HR that the threat is far more likely to come from an external party than someone we work with, and of course we have never had an incident, so clearly I should feel safe.
Frankly - I don't, and would like to provide hard evidence regarding the statistical likelihood of workplace violence originating internally vs. externally.
Preliminary googling resulted in stats about the likelihood of violence...and not separated out as committed internally vs by a "crazed mad man randomly shooting up corporate business parks".
So Mefites - any stats/papers/articles that draws this out?
i know this is unlikely to change hearts and minds.
I work for a conservative company in a conservative part of the country. This company does not ban fire arms in the workplace, as the state has concealed carry and open carry permits. During my visit to the corporate office, a co-worker told a "funny story" about forgetting where their loaded guns were.
This does not scream fire arm safety to me, and I broached the topic of a fire arms ban in the office with my superiors and HR. It was explained to me by HR that the threat is far more likely to come from an external party than someone we work with, and of course we have never had an incident, so clearly I should feel safe.
Frankly - I don't, and would like to provide hard evidence regarding the statistical likelihood of workplace violence originating internally vs. externally.
Preliminary googling resulted in stats about the likelihood of violence...and not separated out as committed internally vs by a "crazed mad man randomly shooting up corporate business parks".
So Mefites - any stats/papers/articles that draws this out?
i know this is unlikely to change hearts and minds.
According to this 2013 publication from the FBI, the statistics do not appear to bear out your assumption.
"violence by criminals otherwise unconnected to the workplace accounts for the vast majority—nearly 80 percent—of workplace homicides. "
posted by DWRoelands at 10:18 AM on August 1, 2014
"violence by criminals otherwise unconnected to the workplace accounts for the vast majority—nearly 80 percent—of workplace homicides. "
posted by DWRoelands at 10:18 AM on August 1, 2014
This Department of Justice report has statistics as recent as 2009 with the same basic conclusion.
"About 70% of workplace homicides were committed by robbers and other assailants while about 21% were committed by work associates between 2005 and 2009."
posted by DWRoelands at 10:26 AM on August 1, 2014
"About 70% of workplace homicides were committed by robbers and other assailants while about 21% were committed by work associates between 2005 and 2009."
posted by DWRoelands at 10:26 AM on August 1, 2014
Also, the mere banning of firearms in any particular place does not gurantee that a shooting will not take place their. To the contrary, it appears that spree shooters tend to pick out places that DO ban firearms.
posted by bartonlong at 10:45 AM on August 1, 2014
posted by bartonlong at 10:45 AM on August 1, 2014
The New York City Police Department produced a fairly comprehensive report that includes "a statistical analysis on a subset of these cases to identify common characteristics among active shooter attacks. This analysis is presented in Part III and the underlying methodology is presented in Part IV. The analysis found a large degree of variation among attacks across some broad categories, including: sex of the attacker, age of the attacker, number of attackers, planning tactics, targets, number of casualties, location of the attack, weapons used, and attack resolution. The analysis also provides insight into the frequency of active shooter attacks. "
posted by Seeba at 10:47 AM on August 1, 2014
posted by Seeba at 10:47 AM on August 1, 2014
Perhaps you could contact folks at Gavin de Becker and Associates, or National Organization for Victims of Crime for direction. Surely they know where to find these statistics.
posted by vignettist at 12:46 PM on August 1, 2014
posted by vignettist at 12:46 PM on August 1, 2014
If you don't work in a retail environment, you'll want to see data for non-retail workplace shootings. HR data may be skewed by armed robberies of retail operations, which is not likely to be an issue for the actuarial department at Mutual of Omaha.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:56 PM on August 1, 2014
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:56 PM on August 1, 2014
The DOJ report I cited provides those breakdowns.
posted by DWRoelands at 3:45 PM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by DWRoelands at 3:45 PM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
Legal gun owners are generally more law-abiding than the general population.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:51 PM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by SemiSalt at 4:51 PM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
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To answer your underlying question/concern, you should also cut the data one more time to look at the rates of incidence at offices that explicitly forbid firearms and those that don't.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:13 AM on August 1, 2014