The American Hospital Association has partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to provide resources to mitigate violence against health care workers.

The new resources come amid a reported increase in violence facing the industry.

AHA launched the Hospitals Against Violence initiative, which aims to stop both workplace violence and community violence in health care settings. Organization leaders say violence in healthcare facilities has increased since the pandemic.

“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers across the country have experienced a sharp increase in the incidence of workplace violence, with no sign of this trend abating,” the AHA said. “Despite diligent efforts by hospitals and health systems to prevent violence, health care workers are five times more likely than any other type of worker to be physically assaulted at work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics” .

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John Riggi, who handles cybersecurity for the AHA, said there are 13.2 physical attacks per 100 nurses per year. There are also 38.8 per 100 nurses per year of non-physical violent events such as threats, sexual harassment and verbal abuse.

One key officials say could prevent attacks is assessing threats before acts of violence occur.

“When we are in this space, our primary mission is to prevent those acts of terrorism and targeted violence. So one of the biggest tools we have to do that is what’s called threat assessment management. And some people have heard of it and some people haven’t,” said Karie Gibson, unit chief for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit-1.

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Gibson suggested that it’s not just about law enforcement preventing violence in hospitals.

“I think any place out there that has the ability to have a large number of people there or more public spaces that people can enter at will, we’re all vulnerable in those environments,” Gibson said. “And I think if we think we’re immune to that violence, then we’re setting ourselves up to be even more vulnerable.

“So the best option is for all of us in the community to come together and do what we can in our own spaces to protect them as well as educate the people who are in that space and what to look for and what to do when i see something of concern and the opportunity to work with our partners to really improve this.”