Abstract
A general consensus generated from various news articles is that violence in the workplace is
on the rise and that the workplace is no longer considered safe for many employees. Although
some employees such as police officers and prison guards might encounter violence at work to
some degree, more and more employees are experiencing the effects of public-initiated violence
at work. They include petrol attendants working on the forecourts of petrol stations. Recently,
Kole (2010) conducted research on the security measures to reduce workplace violence at
petrol stations in Gauteng and highlighted issues and challenges that petrol stations face on a
daily basis regarding workplace violence. Kole recommended several prevention strategies to
reduce violent crimes at petrol stations. The aim of this study is to add knowledge on this
phenomenon by focusing on selected petrol stations in Johannesburg, to understand whether
they experience similar issues and challenges regarding workplace violence and what
strategies they use to prevent these issues and challenges. Semi-structured interviews were
conducted with five managers and fifteen petrol attendants working at these selected petrol
stations in Johannesburg in 2015. These interviews focused on violent Type I and non-violent
Type II workplace violence that occur at their petrol stations.