Suicide in the Workplace: Incidence, Victim Characteristics, and External Cause of Death

Uses data from the National Traumatic Occupational Fatality data base to describe suicide in the workplace. From 1980-85, 3% of deaths were suicides, & the average annual rate was 2.3 per million workers. Risk increases with age; men have more than 7 times the risk of women; whites have a risk ratio of 1.6 compared with blacks. Women use the same methods but in different proportions than men. Men in military service & in the agriculture/forestry/fishery industry appear at highest risk. (19 ref)