25-Year Fatal Workplace Suicide Trends in North Carolina: 1992–2017

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cantrell J ; Marshall SW ; Martin AT ; Martin CL ; McClure ES ; Nocera M ; Ranapurwala SI ; Richardson DB ; Richey M
• Description:
  Background: Suicide is a serious public health problem in the United States, but limited evidence is available investigating fatal suicides at work. There is a substantial need to characterize workplace suicides to inform suicide prevention interventions and target high-risk settings. This study aims to examine workplace suicide rates in North Carolina (NC) by worker characteristics, means of suicide used, and industry between 1992 and 2017. Methods: Fatal workplace suicides were identified from records of the NC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner system and the NC death certificate. Sex, age, race, ethnicity, class of worker, manner of death, and industry were abstracted. Crude and age-standardized homicide rates were calculated as the number of suicides that occurred at work divided by an estimate of worker-years (w-y). Rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, and trends over calendar time for fatal workplace suicides were examined overall and by industry. Results: 81 suicides over 109,464,430 w-y were observed. Increased rates were observed in workers who were male, self-employed, and 65+ years old. Firearms were the most common means of death (63%) followed by hanging (16%). Gas service station workers experienced the highest fatal occupational suicide rate, 11.5 times (95% CI: 3.62-36.33) the overall fatal workplace suicide rate, followed by Justice, Public Order, and Safety workers at 3.23 times the overall rate (95% CI: 1.31-7.97). Conclusion: Our findings identify industries and worker demographics that were vulnerable to workplace suicides. Targeted and tailored mitigation strategies for vulnerable industries and workers are recommended. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Mental Health Mortality Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Suicide
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Employment Status Death Certificates Injury Prevention Mental Health Mortality Rates Occupation And Industry Occupations Suicides Working-aged Men Workplace Suicides
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  214-223
• Volume:
  67
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069113
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2024 Mar; 67(3):214-223
• Contact Point Address:
  Chelsea L. Martin, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Injury Prevention Research Center, University of Chapel Hill at North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
• Email:
  martinlc@unc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20270630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:da808dbee8a1ff25a6bd2719e8f6e5c2b505d205e247a0dee94ee9d3c153049ac2bb88f4cc08d70619f2915f9237ac119a279abdcde9321477d048fa1b836377
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207651/cdc_207651_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 727.98 KB ]