SAFETY
29homicides towomen
compared tonine formen.
■
Shootingswere themost
frequentmanner of death
(375) inbothhomicides
(81percent) and suicides
(48percent). Robberswere
the assailants in33percent
of thesewhile coworkers
accounted for 13percent.
Are we really safe?
I am going to take a riskhere
are state that thesenumbers
might be a surprise formany
of us. If so, does thatmean
that at least aportionof our
riskmanagement or loss
control efforts arenot being
focused in the right place?
■
Are our office buildings
and/or jobsites secure
fromwouldbe robbers or
others?
■
Are our personnel that
workoddor latehours
in anoffice adequately
protected, especially as the
statistics show in the case
of our female co-workers?
■
Dowehave organized
initiatives inplace todeal
with thepotential of hostile
co-workers? Havewe
17
APRIL 2014
ACT
surprise tous in this industry;
noother causehas come close
for years.
In2012 these incidents,
(1,789) resulted in41
percent of all fatal injuries or
roughly two in five fatalities.
Thesenumbers arepresent
even given the existence
of government agencies
withbudgets of hundreds
ofmillions of dollars,
enforcement officers by the
thousands and laws regulating
everything from adriver’s
health tohis or her hours of
sleep. This is coupledwith
those companies pouring
hundreds of thousands of
dollars into robust safety
programs.
What about thenumber two
cause ofworkplace fatalities?
Arewe focusingon this
areawith the same amount
of attention? Arewe aware
that this area isworkplace
violence?
“Wait, did I read that right?
There aremore fatalities
due to violence than falls,
electrocutions, fires, pinch
points, falling objects or struck
bys?”
If the quote above expresses
what youmayhave thought,
let’s delve a littledeeper and
take a look at a few statistics:
■
Workplace violence is
thenumber two cause of
death in theAmerican
workplace.
■
According topreliminary
2012data, 767workers
were killed as a result
of violence. Therewere
463homicides and225
suicides.
■
Of the 338 fatalities
involving femaleworkers,
29percent involved
homicides. Therewere
‘‘
Themost recent report of the Fatal
Occupational Injuries in theUnited States
reveals that transportation-related incidents
are again, far and away the leading cause
of worker fatalities. This should not come
as a surprise to us in this industry; no
other cause has come close for years.
THEAUTHOR
Daniel Erwin
is director of
safety for TNT
Crane &Rigging
inHouston.
Daniel Erwin
discusses
surprising statistics
in the realm of
workplace injuries
and fatalities.
trainedour employees on
the best practices in case of
such an event?
■
What about depression/
hopelessness in the
workplace that could result
in suicide? Remember,
thereweremorepeople
who committed suicide
in theworkplace in2012
than thosewho lost their
lifedue to exposure
to electricity, aircraft
incidents, fires and
explosions, jackknifedor
overturned vehicles, falls
of the same level andmany
more.
In summary, I know for
myself these statistics and
their resultant questions serve
as a grim reminder of an area
thatweneed to remember.
Lives of thousands are ruined
every year as a result of these
tragic incidents. It is up to
us, as requiredby law, and
because it is the right thing
todo, toworkour hardest
toprovide aworkplace free
from recognizedhazards.
Sometimes, it just takes a little
reminder to recognizewhat
thesehazards are.
■
What’s your
focus?
T
he avoidance of
workplace injuries
and/or fatalities is
surelyone of themajor goals
of companies inour industry.
The avoidance of these
injuries becoming recordable
underOSHA guidelines
undoubtedly constitutes a
major portionof that time.
Where arewe focusing
themajorityof our efforts
to achieve this goal? Is it
in choosing the “right”
occupational clinic? Is it
ensuring theproper PPE is
beingworn?
It’s possible themajority
of our focus couldbe on
maintaining apositive safety
culture. Iwonder ifwe
ever base anyof our injury
avoidance strategies on the
statistics providedby the
Bureauof Labor Statistics,
(BLS). Ifwedid I think
manyof usmight have a
change of focus in store or
at aminimum learn some
surprising information.
TheBLShas released its
most recent results of Fatal
Occupational Injuries in the
UnitedStates, preliminary
results for 2012.Once again
transportation-related
incidents are far and away
the leading cause of fatalities.
This shouldnot come as a
