More work-related violence

Threats and violence against social service workers is nothing new, but it rarely rises into the headlines until someone gets killed.

A study released last week by the National Association of Social Workers found that 55 percent of 5,000 licensed social workers surveyed said they faced safety issues on the job. Sixty-eight percent of them said their employers had not adequately addressed their concerns. A survey in 2002 of 800 workers found 19 percent had been victims of violence and 63 percent had been threatened.

Texas social worker Holly Jones stressed that "We don't have weapons, we don't have training in self-defense, we didn't go through a police academy and we're dealing with the same people they are."

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