“Verbal abuse was the most common form of harassment for both men and women with 13 per cent of women reporting they’d experienced abuse in the preceding year.”

This is why many hospitals and clinics have conspicuous signs reading, “Violence and abusive language will not be tolerated”.

Staff need to be trained in delivering acceptable dialog to deescalate but also to have an emergency button to call security.

I taught psychiatric nurses defensive tactics which are usable against either verbally or physically aggressive patients. Their union had requested the training when repeated appeals for improved security were ignored by hospital management.

“Sexual harassment was most likely to affect women, with four per cent saying they had experienced unwanted sexual attention in the workplace, compared to fewer than one per cent of men.”

Many men often respond to the above statistics with, “Ya, I should be so lucky”. A junior high response to an increasing problem which women have dealt with for years.

View a clip from Disclosure, Michael Douglas being seduced, sexually harassed, by Demi Moore.

Read how to avoid sexual harassment in the workplace.

Read more of the shocking workplace discoveries.

Vancouver, British Columbia hospitals are losing nurses because of the threat of violence, violence itself and/or harassment. “He recommends an increase in staffing because too many health-care workers are on their own in both nursing homes and hospitals.”