Workplace homicides committed by firearm: recent trends and narrative text analysis

Despite reductions in workplace homicide over the past two decades, the latest data suggest that trend is reversing (Konda et al., 2014; Death on the Job, 2017; Release, 2017). In 2016, 500 workers were murdered on-the-job, the highest number since 2010 (Release, 2017). In nearly 80% of those deaths (n = 394) perpetrators used firearms (Release, 2017). The number of firearm workplace homicides increased 16.4% between 2014 and 2015, from 307 to 354, and increased another 11.2% between 2015 to 2016 (Release, 2017; News Release, 2016).

One approach to understanding trends in workplace homicides is a violence typology based on the perpetrator’s relationship to the workplace and victim: Type I violence refers to someone with no prior relationship to the workplace/victim; Type II violence refers to a customer or client of the workplace; Type III violence refers to a current or former employee of the workplace; and Type IV violence refers to someone with a personal relationship with the victim (Konda et al., 2014; Peek-Asa et al., 1997; Howard, 1996; Gurka et al., 2009; Tiesman et al., 2012; Hendricks et al., 2007; Gurka et al., 2012; Workplace Violence, 2001). Additional stratification of workplace homicides includes motivation (i.e. robbery vs. non-robbery) and circumstance (i.e. argument vs. other circumstance). Previous research found approximately 60% of workplace homicides are associated with a robbery (Gurka et al., 2009), and an estimated 20% of workplace homicides result from an argument (Konda et al., 2014; Moracco et al., 2000). Robbery crimes are primarily committed by people not associated with the business or victim (Type I), while non-robbery crimes are primarily committed by customers (Type II), other co-workers or work associates (Type III), and perpetrators who have a personal relationship with the victim (Type IV). Around 50% of non-robbery crimes involve an argument (Konda et al., 2014).

Over the last 6 years, from 2011 to 2016, the portion of workplace homicides committed with firearms was roughly 80% (Release, 2017). In one study analyzing workplace homicides in North Carolina from 1994 to 1998 the authors concluded that workplaces that permit employees to carry a firearm had nearly 5-times greater odds of having a workplace homicide compared to workplaces that prohibited weapons (Loomis et al., 2005). Furthermore, the odds that a customer or a worker is armed have likely increased in recent years as a majority of U.S. states have passed right-to-carry laws or have removed the need to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon (Webster, 2017; Webster et al., 2017). By-in-large, right-to-carry states remove discretion from authorities over who is issued a permit to carry a concealed firearm (Siegel et al., 2017). Authorities are most typically law enforcement officers. A nationally representative survey of gun owners found greater proportions of loaded handgun carrying in right-to-carry states compared to states without such laws (Rowhani-Rahbar et al., 2017). It is likely handgun carrying in right-to-carry states has also increased in the work environment, elevating firearm exposure for workers.

There are several gaps in the workplace homicide literature. First, we are unaware of any research characterizing the violence typology, motivation, and circumstance of firearm workplace homicides (Konda et al., 2014). Second, the original research characterizing workplace homicides by motivation used only North Carolina workplace deaths from 1994 to 2000 and the most recent, national-level epidemiologic investigations of workplace homicides have been subset analyses, focusing on non-robbery-related workplace homicides in the retail industry from 2003 to 2008 (Konda et al., 2014) and on the female experience of workplace homicides from 2003 to 2008 (Tiesman et al., 2012). Finally, no study has attempted to characterize how perpetrators access firearms used in workplace homicide, an important element of prevention. As firearm workplace homicides are on the rise, addressing these research gaps may provide context for potential interventions.

Thus, this study aims to: 1) provide a current, national-level count of firearm workplace homicides by motivation and violence type; 2) report select characteristics (e.g. the race/ethnicity, age, sex, and occupation of victim) of firearm homicides by motivation and violence; and 3) examine how perpetrators access firearms used in workplace homicides.

We identified workplace homicides committed with a firearm in the U.S. from 2011 to 2015 using the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) restricted data file. The CFOI is a national injury surveillance system that confirms workplace deaths via death certificates, workers’ compensation reports, police reports, media reports, Occupational Safety and Health Administration Investigation reports, and medical examiner reports. All confirmed workplace deaths require at least two independent source documents indicating the death was work-related. Law enforcement deaths were excluded from the analysis.

From 2011 to 2015, there were 1727 identified firearm workplace homicides, including 174 homicides of law enforcement officers. Of the 1553 non-law enforcement firearm workplace homicides, 39.9% (n = 619) took place during robberies, 47.9% (n = 744) were not motivated by robbery, and 12.2% (n = 190) were unknown motivation (Table 1). Among the 744 firearm workplace homicides not motivated by robbery, 46.2% (n = 344) involved an argument, 29.6% (n = 220) involved a conflict, and 24.2% (n = 180) were other circumstances (Table 1).

Typology differed significantly (p < 0.001) between motivation and circumstance (Table 1). The majority of robbery workplace homicides (95.6%) were committed by an unknown assailant (Type I). Firearm workplace homicides not committed as part of a robbery were nearly equal across violence types. Customers (41.3%; n = 142) and co-workers/work associates (33.1%; n = 114) committed the highest percentage of the argumentative deaths (n = 344). Individuals with a personal relationship to the employee (60%; n = 132) and co-workers/work associates (30%; n = 66) committed the majority of firearm workplace homicides based in conflict (n = 220). The majority of other circumstances (n = 180) were committed by an unknown assailant (65.6%; n = 118).

This manuscript describes firearm workplace homicides by violence typology, motivation, and circumstance from 2011 to 2015 nationwide. The findings here are consistent with existing literature that documents the typology of workplace homicide incidents varies by motivation and circumstance (Konda et al., 2014; Gurka et al., 2009; Moracco et al., 2000). However, unlike the prior contributions, this study indicates that non-robbery crimes now account for almost 50% of workplace homicides. This is a departure from previous estimates that found non-robbery crimes accounted for approximately one-third of workplace homicides (Konda et al., 2014; Gurka et al., 2009; Moracco et al., 2000; Loomis et al., 2002). Moreover, examining the yearly trends of robbery versus non-robbery crimes shows a steady downward trend of robbery crimes versus an erratic, upward trend in non-robbery crimes. This suggests the recent increase in workplace homicides is driven by non-robbery crimes.

Consistent with previous literature, we found that arguments were the most common circumstance among non-robbery workplace homicides (Konda et al., 2014; Moracco et al., 2000), and that customer-employee (Type II) and employee-employee (Type III) altercations constitute a large portion of argumentative workplace homicides, particularly in the retail industry (Konda et al., 2014). This paper further contextualizes these relationships. Customers and employees either accessed their firearm directly on their person or retrieved their firearm from another location. Thus, among the firearm workplace homicides for which firearm access points could be categorized, immediate as well as nearby firearm access appeared to play a role in escalating arguments into workplace homicides, particularly for customers and employees. This finding supports research from Loomis and colleagues (2005) that employee firearm access at work may lead to increased odds of a workplace homicide, and speaks to the important role firearm exposure may play in workplace deaths (Loomis et al., 2005).

An increase in firearm exposure within the general public may be partially responsible for this change. From the mid 1990’s to now many states have loosened laws regarding who can carry a concealed firearm, or eliminated oversight altogether (Webster et al., 2017; Siegel et al., 2017). States that have changed their laws in recent years have higher proportions of loaded handgun carrying than states that did not adopt such laws (Rowhani-Rahbar et al., 2017). Increased handgun carrying likely affects firearm exposure for employees, as more customers or fellow employees may be armed or have nearby access to a firearm. The increase in non-robbery firearm workplace homicides may be at least partially attributable to increases in firearm exposure in the workplace. Causal examinations of policies that increase firearm exposure are needed to assess this claim.

Restricting customer and employee firearm access in the workplace could reduce argumentative workplace homicides. Employers’ rationale for allowing firearms in their workplace is not known, but protection is a likely motivation. Findings from this research offer a direct counterpoint. Allowing customers or employees to carry firearms may lead to fatal outcomes for disagreements that otherwise might not have turned deadly. Previous literature noted de-escalation training for employees as a possible prevention strategy for reducing argumentative workplace homicides (Konda et al., 2014). This type of training includes teaching employees to identify warning signs of aggression and how to calm agitated individuals (Anderson & Clarke, 1996). These prevention strategies have proven efficacious in the health care setting (Martinez, 2016) but have not been widely examined in the general workforce. It is important to note that, as CFOI contains only workplace deaths, the number of workplace homicides prevented by an employee having a firearm is unknown and should be considered. However, we identified 8 cases in which an armed employee had their own weapon used against them.

This research presents a new way of considering workplace homicide circumstances. As the number of non-robbery workplace homicides have increased over the years, it is important to fully characterize these deaths. We offer an alternative to the existing classification structure presented by Konda and colleagues (2014) (Konda et al., 2014), adding conflicts to the existing categories of arguments and other circumstances. We believe it is important to consider conflicts separately as these types of workplace homicides are interpersonal in nature yet lack enough detail in the narrative text to conclude they stemmed from an observable argument. Moving forward, categorizing workplace homicides into arguments, conflicts, and other circumstances will help researchers and policy makers develop targeted prevention efforts.

Further, this paper offers the first accounting of the number of workers who died from a terrorist or spree-based mass shooting. A previous examination of non-robbery workplace homicides, conducted using data from 2003 to 2008, did not include mass shootings as a death circumstance (Konda et al., 2014). As public health officials develop preventive policies and interventions to stem the recent rise in mass shootings in the U.S. (Cohen et al., 2014), worker safety and health should be considered.

We could assess firearm access points in 292 of the 1553 firearm workplace homicides. Homicide incidents with sufficient narrative text to assess how perpetrators accessed their firearms were largely arguments. Argumentative deaths may have created additional sources of information for investigators to assess how perpetrators accessed their firearms (i.e., witnesses, security footage). This additional information may have allowed for richer narrative text about the incident compared to other types of workplace homicides, explaining why almost 80% of the death events with sufficient narrative detail to determine firearm access points were based in an argument.

This paper presents the first national-level epidemiologic investigation of firearm workplace homicides. Workplace homicides not committed as part of a robbery now account for almost 50% of total firearm workplace homicides. Moreover, robbery workplace homicides declined from 2011 to 2015. Customers and co-workers are the most frequent perpetrators of non-robbery crimes, most often as part of arguments. While customers and co-workers who commit these crimes are often armed at the time of the argument, many are not and retrieve a firearm from an unspecified location before committing a workplace homicide. Immediate and nearby firearm access plays a large role in argumentative workplace deaths. Limiting firearm access in the workplace is one possible way to prevent firearm workplace homicides and should be considered as part of a comprehensive strategy for preventing deadly workplace violence.