Criminal victimization in the workplace

By Sylvain de Léséleuc, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

In recent years, violence in the workplace has been the subject of increasing public attention. In response to the growing concerns over workplace victimizations, such as assaults and incidents of criminal harassment, both public and private sector workplaces have developed policies to deal with workplace violence and harassment.

Given the lack of national data on workplace violence, the nature, severity and prevalence of the problem has been difficult to quantify. The General Social Survey (GSS) on victimization¹ captures information on the nature and extent of criminal victimization, including whether an incident occurred at the victim’s place of work.²  This Profile examines these data, provides a detailed look at violent workplace incidents and identifies the risk factors that are related to these incidents. The report also examines the aftermath and consequences of violence in the workplace.

Notes

1. The GSS provides data on incidents that are both reported and not reported to the police.
   
   
2. For the first time in 2004, the GSS on victimization asked victims of incidents occurring in commercial or institutional establishments if this location was also their place of work.

You need to use the free Adobe Reader to view PDF documents. To view (open) these files, simply click on the link. To download (save) them, right-click on the link. Note that if you are using Internet Explorer or AOL, PDF documents sometimes do not open properly. See Troubleshooting PDFs. PDF documents may not be accessible by some devices. For more information, visit the Adobe website or contact us for assistance.