Under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), the International Labor Organization (ILO) Code of Practice has defined “workplace violence” as:

Any action, incident or behavior that departs from reasonable conduct in which a person is assaulted, threatened, harmed, injured in the course of, or as a direct result of, his or her work.

Internal workplace violence is that which takes place between workers, including managers and supervisors.

External workplace violence is that which takes place between workers (and managers and supervisors) and any other person present at the workplace.