There’s no simple definition of workplace violence.

OSHA describes workplace violence as “any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site,” adding that “such acts range from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and homicide.” The latter is on the rise, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which last year reported that workplace fatalities due to violence increased 11.6% in 2022. 

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health divides workplace violence by category — criminal intent, customer/client, worker-on-worker, or personal relationship — and describes the nuances of each, which can range from harassment to assault. 

“Workplace violence has a large spectrum to it,” said Patrick Rogers, London-based head of risk advisory and crisis management for Alert:24, a unit of Willis Towers Watson PLC. “It’s everything from bullying … up to physical violence, right up to these extreme events like an active shooter.” 

Overall, workplaces are the most common setting for shootings, according to a study by the nonprofit Violence Prevention Project through Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, which found that 31% of shootings take place at the current or former workplaces of perpetrators.

Mass shooting incidents are statistically rare, according to several studies, and it’s the smaller incidents that catch employers off guard, experts say. 

Applying a broad definition of workplace violence, one in four employees in the United States has witnessed such acts over the past five years, and 12% have been the target of violence, according to survey results released in January by Traliant Holdings LLC, a compliance company that collected responses from 1,080 employees at large companies.

“One of the most common types of workplace violence is actually domestic violence that spills into the workplace,” said Michael Johnson, Washington-based chief strategy officer at Traliant. “This is an employee whose husband is violent, and he comes into the workplace and tries to attack his spouse, who’s a victim of domestic violence, and maybe hurts others as well. …That’s one of the things that kind of surprises employers.”

Kathleen Bonczyk, Winter Garden, Florida-based attorney and founder and executive director of the nonprofit Workplace Violence Prevention Institute, said employers should pay close attention to “verbal behavior” that often escalates to something more. 

“That’s the assault, the threat, ‘Hey, if you don’t get away from me, I’m going to punch you in the face,’ and the next week, it becomes a punch in the face,” she said. 

Kenna Carlsen, a research associate with the Itasca, Illinois-based National Safety Council, said, “A lot of our attention goes to those overt physical forms of violence because they’re easier to measure,” while smaller incidents — including those that are only verbal — often fly under the radar, she said.

Larger events such as shootings are more unpredictable, further complicating the picture for employers grappling with awareness, she said. 

“One of the hardest things about workplace violence is that the larger events are so rare. ... But when they do happen, the consequences can be severe,” Ms. Carlsen said.