The media during the past ten years has given considerable attention to the workplace violence in factories, service organizations, and the public school systems throughout the United States. This study compared patterns of workplace violence in the 23 member institutions of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) with the patterns of workplace violence in selected for-profit service and manufacturing employers in Virginia, to determine if workplace violence incidents occurring in the VCCS's member institutions reflect the workplace violence incidents experienced by business and industry within each member institution's service region. Chi-square analysis showed a significant difference in non-violent conflict training provided to employees and the use of written policies and workplace violence prevention plans. There was not a significant difference in the types and frequencies of workplace violence incidents occurring in community colleges and in business and industry. Future research should expand this study by comparing community colleges to four-year institutions and reviewing the influence of workplace violence prevention plans on the types and frequencies of occurrences.

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