
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 5, 1993                   TAG: 9309050088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Medium

STRESS AT WORK RISING DANGER

An American woman is more likely to die on the job at the hands of an attacker than by accident, according to a report released Saturday.

Corporate downsizing and the erosion of health benefits are contributing to work environments in which workers feel increasing stress and many could snap, added the report, titled "Breaking Point."

Prepared by the Chicago-based National Safe Workplace Institute, it estimates 110,000 incidents of violence occurred in U.S. workplaces last year, causing about 750 deaths and costing employers $4.2 billion.

About 40 percent of all women who are killed on the job die in workplace attacks, the report said. Although it did not provide a breakdown, it said that was more than by any other cause.

Nine out of 10 violent workplace deaths claim men, the report said.

"We have a very violent culture superimposing itself on the workplace," said Dennis L. Johnson, president of Behavior Analysts & Consultants in Stuart, Fla., and a contributor to the report.

Johnson, whose company advises clients on preventing or dealing with such violence, said three things could help stabilize a work force on the brink:

An efficient economy approaching full employment.

An effective legal system emphasizing crime prevention.

A society that values good behavior.

"In each of these three items, the United States finds itself as a culture very wanting," Johnson said.

Joseph A. Kinney, the institute's executive director, said the outlook for peaceable workplaces is deteriorating.

Companies that formerly offered early retirement incentives to trim their work force are now cutting younger people. That includes men in their 30s, the group most likely to fire back when fired, according to the report.

Those who keep their jobs are being asked to do more, the report said. In the midst of that stress, they are being asked to pay more of the soaring cost of health coverage. The extra expense may deter people who need mental health care from seeking it, Kinney said.

by CNB