March 5, 2005—Workplace homicides in 2003 increased faster than any other cause of a worker fatality, and females made up 81 percent of the total number of the 631 victims, according to a paper from the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE).
In all, 5,559 people died from job-related injuries in the U.S. in 2003, says the report, Workplace Violence Survey and White Paper.
Workplace violence includes homicides, physical attacks, rapes, and other assaults, all forms of harassment and any other act that creates a hostile work environment, the report says.
Transportation incidents were the number one cause of on-the-job deaths followed by falls as the number two and homicides as the number three. Of these three top causes of on-the-job deaths, homicide, with a total of 631 workplace fatalities, is the only one on the rise and recording its first increase since 2000. Workplace suicides are also on the rise, with 218 recorded in 2003. The majority of homicides were due to shootings with 487, and 58 stabbings.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 512 females and 119 men were victims of workplace homicides. The profession with the most homicides was sales and related occupations with 182 followed by protective service occupations 95; transportation and material moving 83; management 64; food preparation and serving-related 41; office and administrative support 37; installation, maintenance, and repair 27; production occupations 27; construction and extraction 17; personal care and service 11; building grounds, cleaning, and maintenance 10; farming, fishing, and forestry nine; health care practitioners and technical workers six; health care support occupations six; supervisors, production workers six; business and financial operations four; community and social services three, and three were unspecified.
The places where the homicides occurred were public buildings with 330 followed by the street – 89; industrial area 58; residence 50; farm 10; institution 10; recreation area six, and according to the BLS places where 78 homicides occurred were not specified.
Founded in 1911, ASSE is the oldest and largest professional safety organization with 30,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members, according to the organization. For more information and a full copy of the workplace violence survey and recommendations, go to the organization Web site. For the fatal occupational injuries report, see the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
