We are thrilled to announce that Dr Vanessa Gash has been selected as a winner of the prestigious UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) Innovation Panel Competition 2025.
Dr Gash’s winning proposal introduces a new battery of indicators on workplace violence, a critical and timely topic in labour market research. These indicators will be fielded to a nationally representative sample as part of the UKHLS Innovation Panel, a unique test-bed for pioneering survey methods and content within the broader Understanding Society study.
This project not only generates valuable new data on workplace violence across the UK, but will also advance methodological innovation in how such sensitive topics are measured. Once collected, the data will be made publicly available, offering researchers across disciplines the opportunity to explore and build upon this work.
In addition to the data release, Dr Gash and her co-applicants, including Dr Niels Blom, will develop a series of working papers to disseminate findings and insights from the project. These papers will contribute to academic debates and inform policy discussions around workplace safety and wellbeing.
The Innovation Panel Competition is a highly competitive initiative that supports cutting-edge research ideas with real-world impact. We are proud to see Dr Gash’s work recognised and supported by Understanding Society.
Workplace violence is a significant problem with underexamined productivity effects. In a global survey, just under 1 in 5 workers reported exposure to psychological violence and harassment at work, and 1 in 10 reported exposure to physical violence during their working-lives. In the United Kingdom (UK), the Health and Safety Executive (the regulator for workplace health and safety) found 1% of all adults of working age, in the 12 months prior, experienced a physical assault or threat of assault at work.
Workplace violence covers a broad range of adverse social interactions and behaviours committed by or towards employees. It includes encounters between colleagues and between workers and service users. It can also include incidents of domestic abuse experienced at work, with abusers known to pursue victims in the workplace.
Direct and indirect exposure to violent acts or threats of violence at work can be anticipated to lead to anxiety and fear of further victimization. Workplace violence, especially when persistent, may cause psychological disorders including common mental disorders (CMD) of generalized anxiety and depression.
VISION researchers Dr Vanessa Gash (City St George’s University of London) and Dr Niels Blom (University of Manchester) used the United Kingdom Household Panel Study, a nationally representative survey with mental health indicators to examine the prevalence of violence and fear of violence by sector and the effect of violence on common mental disorders (CMD) risk. They also supplemented the analyses with the views of those with lived experience.
Results showed that a high prevalence of workplace violence and fear of workplace violence was found in multiple different UK industrial sectors – >1 in 10 workers were exposed to violence in the last 12 months in 30% of sectors and >1 in 20 workers were exposed in 70% of sectors. Workers employed in public administration and facilities had the highest risks of workplace violence. The second highest sector was health, residential care, and social work. Workplace violence increased CMD risk as did fear of violence at work. Also, the effect of violence and fear of violence on CMD remained when the researchers investigated CMD one year later.
Recommendation
The researchers recommend better recognition of the extent to which workplace violence is experienced across multiple sectors and call for better systems wide interventions to mitigate the associated harms.
To cite: Gash, V, Blom, N. ‘Workplace violence and fear of violence: an assessment of prevalence across industrial sectors and its mental health effects’. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4230
Our latest research examinestwo nationally representative datasets, The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) and the UK Household Panel Survey (UKHLS), to examine variance in the prevalence of workplace violence by industrial sector and occupational group.
The authors, Dr Vanessa Gash and Dr Niels Blom, found 28% of commercial businesses reported criminal victimisation on their premises in the past year, including 8% reporting violent victimisation (namely assaults, robberies, and threats).
Using individual-level data, the report also found 8% of employees had been threatened, insulted or physically attacked at work in the past year, and a similar percentage have felt unsafe at work, with public sector workers most at risk.
The authors call for enhanced recognition of the problem of workplace violence for a significant proportion of workers in multiple different sectors, alongside improved policies to minimise workplace violence going forward.
Figure 1. Prevalence of Violence and Fear of Violence in the Workplace by Sector, UKHLS data 2020-2021, weighted estimates
The presentations from the 3rd VISION annual conference are now available for downloading.
The event was held at Kings College London, Strand campus, on 11 June. The theme was Violence prevention in research and policy: Bridging silos. Keynote speakers, Dr Claudia Garcia-Moreno (World Health Organisation) and Professor Katrin Hohl (City, UoL) considered the changes needed for effective violence prevention from the perspectives of health and justice. Three symposiums highlighted interdisciplinary research from the VISION consortium and partners on:
– Violence against older people: Challenges in research and policy;
– Learning across statutory review practices: Origins, ambitions and future directions; and
– Responding to experiences and expressions of interpersonal violence in the workplace
Approximately 80 academics, central and local government officials, practitioners, and voluntary and community sector organisations attended from a range of health and crime / justice disciplines.
All the slides that could be shared are available below. Please feel free to download.
Photo caption: Symposium 3, ‘Responding to experiences and expressions of interpersonal violence in the workplace’. From left to right: Chair, Dr Olumide Adisa (University of Suffolk) and Panellists Dr Vanessa Gash (City, UoL), Dr Alison Gregory (Alison Gregory Consulting), Catherine Buglass (Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse) and Dr Niels Blom (City, UoL)
Professor Gene Feder, VISION Director – Welcome – 1 download
Symposium 1 – Violence against older people: Challenges in research and policy – 4 downloads (Hourglass, Office for National Statistics, Public Health Wales & VISION)
Symposium 3 – Responding to experiences and expressions of interpersonal violence in the workplace – 3 downloads (Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse, and 2 from VISION)
The latest research by VISION colleagues, Vanessa Gash and Niels Blom at City, finds serious negative effects of intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA) on labour market outcomes, with 3.6% of those who experienced intimate partner violence losing their jobs because of the abuse. Furthermore, 1 in 10 of those who experienced intimate partner violence took a period of leave from work, with 1 in 4 of those who took leave needing to take a month or more off work.
Based on a large statistically representative sample for England and Wales, this research is one of the first to examine different types of IPVA, with five categories distinguished in the analysis.
The report examines differences between those who experienced; (1) physical abuse, (2) sexual abuse, (3) stalking, (4) coercive or controlling behaviour, as well as those who were (5) threatened with abuse by a current or former intimate partner. There were strong differences in prevalence of IPVA by sex, with women disproportionately exposed to threats (34% compared to 15% for men) and to sexual violence (7% compared to 3% for men). Additionally, compared to men, women were more likely to report multiple types of violence and abuse.
Job loss is associated with all five forms of IPVA, and the risks were highest for those who experienced: stalking, sexual violence as well as physical threats by an intimate partner. The research also includes qualitative findings from those with lived experience of IPVA and abuse. Participants noted an ongoing stigmatisation of victims of abuse, which had serious impacts on disclosure. Victim-survivors noted their fear of being declared ‘unfit for work’ and of becoming a ’marked person’ should they disclose their abuse to relevant managers.
Policy implications
Though IPVA was found to have significant effects on victims’ experiences at work, those with lived experience noted a reluctance to disclose IPVA to relevant managers.
Employers may therefore want to consider enhanced IPVA and DA support systems for employees in the workplace.
While we can expect enhanced support to improve job retention and productivity, we currently lack the appropriate data to directly examine these effects
For further information please download the full report below and / or contact Dr Vanessa Gash at vanessa.gash.1@city.ac.uk.
Dr Vanessa Gash is a Reader in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at City and a member of the UKPRP VISION team based at the Violence & Society Centre.
Dr Niels Blom is a Research Fellow at the Violence & Society Centre and a member of the UKPRP VISION team.
Sally will use a life-course approach to understanding women’s mental health and wellbeing at work, including the impact of the psychosocial working environment, bullying and harassment at work, and what support and signposting employers can offer in relation to domestic violence.
