A Surprising (and Growing) Gender Gap in the Most Dangerous Jobs

A series by The Washington Post’s “Department of Data” that focused on workplace violence found psychiatric technicians and psychiatric aids have among the highest rates of workplace attacks of any tracked profession. The reporters used data from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, which showed a huge increase in attacks/injuries to psychiatric workers since an earlier 2011 report. The series noted that these (and other workplace attacks) are much more frequent in settings where women comprise the majority of the workforce. After consulting with NRI’s Senior Director, Government & Commercial Research, Ted Lutterman about about trends in State hospital data, one of the charts Lutterman prepared for "Trends in Psychiatric Inpatient Capacity, United States and Each State, 1970 to 2014" was included in the article. Read more.