Lynn Jenkins, a workplace violence researcher at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, commends the Postal Service for calling for the study. But, Jenkins says, her own work, conducted in 1994, showed a different picture. Yet half of those killings were at the hands of co-workers, whereas only 5 percent of the murders in other industries were committed by colleagues. James Janik, chief psychologist at Chicago's Cook County Juvenile Court and an expert in workplace violence, says comparing the Postal Service to other industries isn't exactly a fair analysis. Better, Janik says, would be to match its statistics against United Parcel Service, FedEx, and other mail carriers, which have similar pressures and environments.
Postal workers endure tremendous stress in the office.
And because it's a government agency, applicants for employment are given preference for their military history and disabilities. There's huge pressure to perform. What To Do For more on workplace violence, try the Center for Disease Control's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health . To learn more about the delivery agency, visit the U.S. Postal Service online.