People working in the health sector are three times more likely to experience work-related violence than other employees, a major international conference held in Dublin has been told.

According to research highlighted at the conference, violence and aggression in the workplace can pose significant physical and psychological risks and can have a long-term impact on organisations and services.

Organisations can face a heavy financial burden while trying to deal with violent incidents and the absenteeism that may result. Workers may also become stressed and have less job satisfaction, which may lead to them leaving their positions earlier than intended or having poorer work quality.

Aggression and violence can also have a big impact on the care experience overall, for both staff and clients/patients.

This issue was discussed at the recent 5th International Conference on Workplace Violence in Dublin. This three-day summit saw delegates from all over the world attending, including doctors, researchers and healthcare regulators.

"Workplace violence toward staff is an ever-present threat in health services in Ireland and across the world and its effects can be devastating for employees, patients and health organisations alike," commented Dr Kevin McKenna of Dundalk Institute of Technology, who was co-chair at the conference.

He noted that while some progress has been made in this area, ‘there is still much more work that needs to be done'.

"Collaboration with other international subject experts is critical to helping us devise better strategies to manage and mitigate against this risk in our diverse clinical and care contexts," he said.