Health care workers play a vital role in Ohio’s society. Despite this, many workplaces do little to protect these men and women from a serious problem — violence. Unfortunately, your job means that you probably already know just how big of a problem workplace violence is in places like hospitals, doctor offices and other health care facilities.
For every 10,000 full-time workers in America, 2.1 suffer injuries because of workplace violence. When looking just at the private health care and service industry, that number jumps to 10.4 victims per 10,000 full-time employees. This means that violence against workers happens five times as often in medical settings.
What is workplace violence?
Workplace violence can refer to a broad range of actions and behavior. However, at its most basic, it refers to when a person causes intentional injuries to a worker. The health care and social assistance industry first started tracking instances of workplace violence back in 2011. While it is not clear why the industry did not track workplace violence earlier, the numbers have only gone up since then.
From 2011 to 2018, perpetrators killed 156 health care workers. In many instances, the assailants were domestic partners or relatives of the victim. Private health care and social assistance workers accounted for 4% of all workplace homicides in 2018.
Taking time off work
Many injury victims need to take time off work to focus on their recovery. In 2018, workers took a total of 900,380 days off work because of workplace injuries or illness. Workers in the private health care and social assistance industries made up 2% of those days, or about 18,000 days.
That same year, 73% of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses from violence happened in the health care industry. It is important to remember that the private health care and social assistance industry refers to many different jobs all across the medical industry. This paints a pretty stark picture of what it is like to work in health care.
You deserve help
Like many others, maybe you went into the health care industry because you have a deep desire to help others. The idea of seeking help for yourself might feel strange or even uncomfortable. However, it is important for your own health and well-being to overcome these feelings of uncertainty.
As a victim of workplace violence, you are probably facing mounting medical bills that are difficult to pay while you are out of work. You need help to address these and other damages, like the physical and emotional trauma of suffering violence at the hands of another person. Speaking with an experienced attorney should be one of the first steps when exploring your options for workers’ compensation.