Workplace Violence is Not Domestic

Women's groups assertions are without merit

The following was printed in the February 1998 edition of "Compliance Magazine," which is a trade publication for industrial safety professionals. Their website is www.compliancemag.com. The article was called "Speaking with Alan F. Hoskin." He is the Manager, Statistics Department, National Safety Council, 1121 Spring Lake Drive, Itasca, Ill, 60143-3201. Phone 630-775-2365, fax 630-285-0242. His organization issues a ppublication called "Accident Facts" each September, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

He says, "Only in recent years have we learned that violence in the workplace is a major problem. Violence is the second leading cause of death in the workplace after traffic incidents. It also is an important contributor to nonfatal injuries in certain occupations such as nursing. Nonfatal incidents most commonly involve assaults by patients in healthcare settings. In the case of fatalities, the violence is usually related to robbery and involves retail clerks....The highest numbers of deaths occur in common occupations. Again in 1996, there were 785 deaths of truck drivers, 569 deaths of those in farm occupations, and 291 construction laborers died of work injuries. The most common fatal events for all three of these occupations were vehicular incidents, both on and off the highway."

No where in his article is gender mentioned at all, and no where does it mention personally motivated violence of any sort. I'd like to see some stats on gender and workplace death, though, because obviously, more truck drivers, farmers, and construction laborers are men.