Not all the rage happens on the road, spewed by people making their way to and from work. Social scientists are measuring "air rage" in the sky, "bike rage" on what should be idyllic parkways, even the "rejection rage" that fuels stalkers. Now, there's "desk rage." Also called "office rage," or "work rage," it's the increasing tendency of people to explode in the workplace over relatively minor irritants: a coworker's telephone voice, a stuck computer key, a supervisor's insipid laugh.

Anti-bullying guidelines for employers, designed to cut "work rage" incidents in the office, will soon be launched by the the Queensland government.

Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, said ''suit wars'' were prompted by job cuts and an efficiency drive that had transformed the office environment.

''The people who remain feel more insecure and overworked,'' he said. ''The stress creates a pressure-cooker scenario and if you are under pressure, you blow.''

Government statistics show that workplace assaults have more than doubled in a decade, creating record violence levels.

Next month the Department of the Environment will introduce regulations requiring employers to notify the government of violent incidents to assess the scale of the problem.

Work rage is breaking out in all sectors of British professional life. Paul Thomas, an advertising executive, alleges that earlier this year he was the victim of a spontaneous assault by a senior colleague, who had been sitting calmly at the opposite desk minutes previously.