Why Workplace Bullying and Violence are Different: Protecting Employees from Both

Abstract

Job Watch is an Australian community legal centre that specialises in employment law. It has been providing employees in the state of Victoria with advice and assistance in relation to violence at work since 1994. The form of workplace violence in particular that Job Watch has been campaigning on and researching into is internally focused, and perpetrated exclusively by someone employed within the workplace. It is on this background experience of practitioners advising and assisting victims of workplace violence that this paper is based. It aims to provide an examination of the issues relevant to employee safety when dealing with workplace violence or workplace bullying. It also provides a brief overview of the key issues in relation to the prevention of both workplace bullying and workplace violence, focusing in particular on potential risk factors revealed by international research.