Elsevier

Annals of Epidemiology

Volume 22, Issue 4, April 2012, Pages 277-284
Annals of Epidemiology

Workplace Homicides Among U.S. Women: The Role of Intimate Partner Violence

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2012.02.009Get rights and content

Purpose

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important public health issue with serious consequences for the workplace. Workplace homicides occurring to U.S. women over a 6-year period, including those perpetrated by an intimate partner, are described.

Methods

Workplace homicides among U.S. women from 2003 to 2008 were categorized into type I (criminal intent), type II (customer/client), type III (co-worker), or type IV (personal relations) events using the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Fatality rates were calculated and compared among workplace violence (WPV) types, occupations, and characteristics including location of homicide, type of workplace, time of day, and weapon used.

Results

Between 2003 and 2008, 648 women were feloniously killed on the job. The leading cause of workplace homicide for U.S. women was criminal intent, such as robbing a store (n = 212; 39%), followed by homicides perpetrated by a personal relation (n = 181; 33%). The majority of these personal relations were intimate partners (n = 142; 78%). Over half of workplace homicides perpetrated by intimate partners occurred in parking lots and public buildings (n = 91; 51%).

Conclusions

A large percentage of homicides occurring to women at work are perpetrated by intimate partners. WPV prevention programs should incorporate strategies to prevent and respond to IPV.

Introduction

In the United States, workplace injury fatalities have decreased 27% since 1992 with the greatest declines observed for workplace homicides (1). In 2010, 506 homicides occurred in U.S. workplaces, representing the lowest total ever recorded by the census (2). Despite these declines, in 2010, workplace homicides among women were up 13% and homicide remains a leading cause of occupational injury death for U.S. women (2). In an effort to better understand workplace violence (WPV), researchers have divided WPV events into four categories, based on the relationship of the perpetrator with the employee: Type I (criminal intent), type II (customer/client), type III (co-worker), and type IV (personal relations) 3, 4, 5. Although some of the early WPV studies found the type IV events were not common in the workplace, many of these studies did not analyze workplace typology across gender; therefore, the results were heavily weighted toward men’s experiences with WPV 6, 7, 8. The few studies that performed gender-specific analyses focusing on the perpetrators of workplace homicides found that women were significantly more likely to be killed on the job by intimate partners than men; however, these published reports are limited to individual states or cities 9, 10. The role that intimate partners play in the fatal WPV experience of women is relatively unknown.

Over one third of U.S women (35.6%) have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime (11). Intimate partner violence (IPV) can follow women into the workplace, resulting in serious consequences not only for the victim, but for her co-workers as well. Each year, an estimated 13,000 acts of violence are committed by intimate partners against women while at work (12). The vast majority of women who experience IPV-related violence on the job have increased absenteeism and reduced work productivity (13). In an average year, employees experiencing IPV lose more than 8 million workdays and approximately $18 million in annual earnings owing to job loss or absenteeism (14).

To the best of our knowledge, no national published report examines the typology of workplace homicides among U.S. women. Furthermore, a national analysis of workplace homicides among U.S. women has not been reported in more than 20 years (15). To address the need for more comprehensive data on the epidemiology of workplace homicides among women, an analysis using six years of data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) was conducted. The primary purpose of this was to categorize workplace homicides occurring to U.S. women into the four types of WPV using perpetrator data obtained from the narrative text fields. In this paper, the characteristics of these homicides, including those perpetrated by an intimate partner at the victim’s workplace, are described.

Section snippets

Data Sources

Workplace homicides among U.S. women from 2003 through 2008 were examined using the CFOI. Data from 2003 to 2008 were selected for this analysis to utilize the most recently available data while using a consistent set of occupation categories. CFOI considers 2003 to be a break in series for the coding of occupation because the classification system changed in 2003. The CFOI is maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and is the most comprehensive and timely source of U.S workplace

Results

Between 2003 and 2008, 648 workplace homicides occurred among U.S. women, resulting in an overall fatality rate of 1.63 per 1,000,000 workers (Table 1). There were sufficient details in the narrative text to categorize 84% of these homicides (n = 544; Table 1). Of these homicides, 39% were type I events (n = 212), 33% were type IV (n = 181), 14% were type III (n = 77), and 14% were type II (n = 74). Of the type IV homicides, nearly 80% were perpetrated by an intimate partner (n = 142). Of the

Discussion

This research provides a national description of workplace homicides among U.S. women spanning a 6-year period. Despite the fact that homicide is the leading cause of occupational injury death for U.S. women, very little research has focused on describing WPV among women. Additionally, IPV is rarely acknowledged as an element of WPV. Although 39% of women killed in the U.S. workplace were killed during a type I event such as a robbery, theft, or other criminal activity, type IV WPV homicides

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