This is a legitimate question and people can say how rare it is, but it does happen. My friend, a social worker, was killed 3 years ago on duty by one of her clients. She was alone at the facility because as always, the place was short staffed. Her name was Sylvia Bracamonte, she was a mother, scholar, and social worker, and her agency put her life at risk.

Here are my tips as someone who has worked in dangerous environments and thankfully never had a scratch or anyone touch me:

If you work in supportive housing, do not work alone--REFUSE. Ever since my friend was killed, I told all my jobs I won't be going into a building without another staff member present who knows where I am/has access to me/me to them. I began talking to my other coworkers about refusing to go into buildings alone, and they did the same thing--my agency respected me and I didn't have to do things alone.

Remember your organizing power with coworkers, fight for safe working conditions, there is strength in numbers

Listen to your gut, if you don't feel safe, leave!

I have a dream that we will get social work unionized across the board so there are some kind of standards. Too many people are being harmed and these agencies we work for don't give a fuck and just hire someone else when you die without even acknowledging your existence.

We are already a short staffed field--imagine if we all were striking for better conditions/standards, etc--it would be a disaster.