Bar staff run above average risk of death by drink or murder

Male and female publicans and bar workers and male caterers, cooks and kitchen porters all have an above average risk of dying from alcohol abuse.

This was the key finding of a new study on occupational mortality in England and Wales during the 1990s, produced by Professor David Coggon of Southampton University and published jointly by the Office for National Statistics and the Health and Safety Executive.

The statistics also suggest that if you work behind the bar you are at a higher risk, compared to working in other industries, of being murdered. This is probably because of the hazard of working among people who are intoxicated by drink, researchers said.

However, the report warns that the results of the study should not be over-analysed.

"The results are purely statistical which means that they cannot prove a causal link between an occupation and a disease, providing only evidence of a statistical association," it says.

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By Janet Harmer

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