suicide prevention

Suicide Prevention Month: Creating a healthier, happier workplace

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?

Weekly news round-up

October 26, 2019

The NSC issues guidance for employers and cannabis use among workers; the NYPD tries a new strategy to combat police depressions and the AIHA partners with international organizations to help clear the (indoor) air. These were among the stop stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

Weekly news round-up

October 5, 2019

Unsafe shortcuts lead to worker deaths, how to liven up safety trainings and the feds limit opioid prescriptions for injured workers. These were among the top occupational safety and health stories featured on ISHN.com this week.

Help stop a suicide: Rates dramatically increasing in the workplace

Dave Johnson

July 8, 2019

“Today we’re going to talk about something bigger than PPE, policies and practices. Something we’ve never discussed before. Can’t really fit it into a toolbox. It’s called life.