Context: The problems of violence and harassment at work have created special interest in the last few years, which has resulted in many scientific and popular publications. Social preoccupation has also increased and different political and labour institutions, on a national and international level, have pronounced, through different documents, their concern about this issue.

Methodology: The focus of the literature survey was on recent European literature. Books, study reports, working papers and (scientific) articles were all covered. In March 2008, a survey on violence and harassment at work was sent to the Focal Points of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) 1. The purpose of the survey was to get a general idea of the situation across the EU countries in relation to work-related violence and to explore the issues related to violence and harassment at work more deeply. Altogether 19 Focal Points from the EU-27 answered the survey 2. Answers were also received from Albania, Norway, and Switzerland. Thus, the total number of replies was 22.

Definitions: There is no single uniform definition of what is meant by workplace violence or harassment. Violence is a generic term that covers all kinds of abuse: behaviour that humiliates, degrades or damages a person’s well-being, value or dignity.

There is a variety of behaviours which may be covered under the heading of general violence at work, and the perception in different contexts and cultures as to what constitutes violence is diverse. Classifying different forms of violence is difficult and classifications used are often overlapping.