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Violence at Work in Finland; Trends, Contents, and Prevention

Violence and threats at the work‐place have increased in Finland in the 1990s and in the beginning of the 2000s, while other forms of violence have remained on a rather stable level. Especially violence against women at the work‐place has increased. The results are based on Finnish victimization surveys conducted in 1980, 1988, 1993, 1997, and 2003. Violence at work has less severe consequences than other forms violence. In the 2003 survey injuries suffered by women have increased. Men's injuries have slightly decreased. Work‐place violence is, like other forms of violence, committed mostly by men, although the share of women as perpetrators has increased; 23% of violence and threats where the victim was a woman were committed by women (8% in men's work‐place violence). Factors behind the increase of violence at work may be partly found in the change in the economic structure of the Finnish society. The share of industrial workers has decreased. Growth of the labour force has occurred especially in the sectors of health care, social work and education. In these sectors, especially women are often working in direct contact with customers and patients. At the same time the requirements for services have increased among the customers, who may have experienced defects in the service they received. Also tolerance against violent behaviour at the work‐places may have decreased, and the willingness to report the violence may have increased. The National Council for Crime Prevention in Finland has launched a programme to prevent different forms of violence. The programme was produced by seven separate working groups, each focusing on different areas of violence. One of the areas was violence at work. The main recommendations of the working group on work‐related violence are also discussed in the article.