Workplace violence was a common theme in some of the workplace incidents that killed or injured employees in the U.S. There were also incidents involving machinery, a fall and a struck-by fatality. Here are some of the occupational safety news stories of the week:

UPS driver one of three killed after his vehicle is hijacked by armed robbers fleeing police

"This is what dangerous people do to get away, and this is what people will do to avoid capture," the police chief says.

3 National Guard members dead in Black Hawk helicopter crash in Minnesota

Three people died after a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed Thursday after taking off from an airport in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Man arrested in 'brutal' killing of Tennessee counselor

A man has been arrested and charged in the "brutal murder" of a woman killed at the Tennessee counseling center where she worked, Nashville police said Thursday. "It does not appear that the two knew each other prior to the attack or that Conley had been a client" at the counseling center, Nashville police said.

Family mourns Pearl Harbor shipyard worker killed in shooting by sailor

The family of one of the two civilian Defense Department employees killed at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard by a sailor Wednesday says that their lives will never be the same.

Employee dies on the job at Midlands-area cement factory, SC coroner says

An Orangeburg County Fire Services official said Hinckson was killed after a fall at the plant, the Times & Democrat reported. Emergency workers responded to a call at about 8:45 a.m., according to the official.

Man killed in workplace accident at Wheatland, Iowa business

Chief Deputy Steve Diesch said the accident happened while a man was working on a skid loader shortly before 10 a.m. Monday, December 2.  A skid loader is an engine-powered machine that has lift arms used to attach tools or attachments, like pallet forks or buckets.

Man killed in Illinois construction accident

Police said Beier had been accidentally backed into by a person operating a Bobcat excavator vehicle.

Employee seriously injured in snowmaking accident

“It was a little snow incident,” St. Pierre, 35, said from his hospital bed at the UVM Medical Center in Burlington. “It’s an accident that happens in snowmaking.” But doctors didn’t think it was a little incident. They didn’t know how he survived, let alone remained conscious after the end of compressor hose apparently broke off of a snow-making machine he was operating and struck him in the face.