Open Letter on Work-related Suicides

Open letter on work-related suicides (International Association for Suicide Prevention), 2024/2025

As international researchers and experts in the field of suicide prevention, we are calling on public health authorities, workplace health and safety regulators, trade unions, employers, suicide prevention associations, and other stakeholders to take urgent action to recognise, investigate and prevent work-related suicides.

There is growing international recognition of the links between work or working conditions and suicide. Evidence has shown that employment can be a protective factor against suicide – especially when compared to unemployment. Yet among those employed, workplace factors may also pose risks for suicide ideation, attempts and death. A growing body of research provides evidence of associations between working conditions and suicide, with conditions such as unmanageable workloads, bullying, insecure work, exposure to trauma, chronic stress, workplace sexual harassment and work intensification related to elevated rates of suicide.

Yet governments and employers vary significantly in their willingness or capacity to recognise, monitor, and intervene to prevent work-related suicide. While in some countries, there is a growing awareness of, and action on, work-related suicide, in many countries, this remains an invisible social problem that is unrecorded, unrecognised, and overlooked.

Suicides are preventable and with effective policy frameworks, work-related suicide can be prevented.

For details, please find the full open letter below: