US workplace suicides up by 28 percent

Didn't know much about this. Scary!!!!



US workplace suicides up by 28 percent

By Andre Damon
22 August 2009

The number of workplace suicides reported in 2008 rose by 28 percent over the previous year, according to figures released Thursday by the US Labor Department.

There were 251 reported workplace suicides in 2008, up from 196 in 2007. Protective service workers, including police and firefighters, registered the highest increase in workplace suicides, with the figure rising from 14 to 25.

Overall workplace fatalities fell by 10 percent in 2008, according to the figures, in part because fewer people are working. The largest decrease in fatalities came from the construction sector, which contracted sharply after the housing bubble collapsed. Private-sector construction laborer deaths fell by 31 percent, but construction retained its status as the deadliest sector, with 969 reported fatalities.

A total of 5,071 workplace fatalities were reported last year, a decrease from 5,657 in 2007. The reported figures were preliminary and subject to revision, but this is the smallest total number of fatalities since the Labor Department began keeping records in 1992.

While “economic factors likely played a role” in reducing overall fatalities, the Labor Department noted that much of the drop-off may be attributable to underreporting due to state budget crises. The department noted that additional reports usually come in late, but since more than half of states are facing fiscal crises and cutting spending wherever they can, more late reports are expected than in previous years.

Workplace fatalities fell among white workers by 8 percent, 16 percent for blacks, and 18 percent for Hispanics. Bill Kojola, an industrial hygienist, told Bloomberg.com that the latter two groups are “the most vulnerable people in this economy.” These groups on average receive lower wages, have higher workplace injury rates, and are “highly likely unemployed” because of an economic downturn.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/suic-a22.shtml