suicide prevention

The most dangerous safety threat in industrial work might be mental health

Rose Morrison

January 2, 2024

More industrial workers die from suicide each year than any other workplace fatalities combined.

Dave Johnson: What's Going On

What is it about construction? Factors driving the industry’s high suicide rate

Dave Johnson

June 22, 2023

This column, depicting the case of a fictitious construction worker, is based on information presented at a session titled “Mental Health and Suicide Prevention” at ASSP's annual event in early June.

OSHA, industry leaders call on employers, workers to combat surge in construction worker suicides

September 6, 2022

Coinciding with Construction Suicide Prevention Week, a task force is calling on construction industry employers, trade groups and other stakeholders to join OSHA’s Suicide Prevention Safety Stand-Down, Sept. 5-9, 2022.

Suicide Prevention Month: Creating a healthier, happier workplace

Danny Shields

September 16, 2021

Studies have been looking into the effect of stress and other psychosocial factors on employees’ well-being for decades. One of the first efforts to recognize the connection between workplace stress and well-being was the Whitehall Studies from 1967 to the mid-1980s. And studies continue to document the link between the two.

A personal perspective about suicide in the workplace

How to keep employees connected during the pandemic

Richard Parke

September 29, 2020

The hardest questions I had to face after a co-worker died by suicide were the “What ifs?” What if I had known sooner? What if I had known more? What if I had been able to provide more support?

Following employee suicides, company found guilty of “institutional harassment”

19 workers took their own lives

January 6, 2020

In a first-ever action, a company and its former managers were criminally prosecuted for institutional harassment associated with suicides among the company’s employees. In a judgment last month, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced France Telecom to a fine of 75,000 euros - the maximum penalty – for institutional harassment that had spread from the leadership to the rest of the company in 2007-2008.

OSHA on 2018 work related death data: "Any fatality is too many"

December 19, 2019

"OSHA will continue to use BLS data for enforcement targeting within its jurisdiction to help prevent tragedies," said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Occupational Safety and Health Loren Sweatt. "Inspections for OSHA were up, and we will work with state plans so employers and workers can find compliance assistance tools in many forms or call the agency to report unsafe working conditions. Any fatality is one too many."

Preventing employee suicides

December 6, 2019

After increasing steadily from 2005 - 2015, workplace suicides in the U.S. hit a new record high in 2016 – 291 – according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A total of 1,719 male and female workers committed suicide on the job between 2003 and 2007. Those numbers only takes into account suicides that occur at work. Among occupational groups, male employees of construction and mining companies had the highest suicide rate: 53.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2015, up from 43.6 in 2012.

FCC considering three-digit suicide prevention hotline

December 4, 2019

With suicide rates rising in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing the establishment of 988 as a national 3-digit number to help people access suicide prevention and mental health services. While a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline already exists – and can reached at (1-800-273-TALK) – FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says an easy-to-reach number would result in more people getting the assistance they need.

A FairWarning Story

What’s in a name? Ghostly spirits stalk the medical literature

"Spinning science to sell drugs"

Myron Levin

November 7, 2019

The idea sounded fishy to Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman. She was not about to put her name on a ghostwritten article for a medical journal. But she was curious, so she played along for a while. An associate professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, Fugh-Berman was contacted in 2004 by a medical communications firm working for drug maker AstraZeneca with a proposition: Would she like an author credit on a forthcoming article to be submitted to a journal?