The 8 Most Deadly Career Choices
Posted by Clarion Safety Systems | 23rd Dec 2021
The 8
Most Deadly Career Choices
On December 16, 2021 the Bureau of Labor
Statistics released a comparison of fatal occupational injuries from
2019 to 2020. This comes with many positive trends, with the main takeaway being
that fatality rates per 100,000 full time workers fell from 3.5 in 2019 to 3.4 in
2020. In fact, the amount of fatal occupational injuries in 2020 (at a count of
4,764) is the lowest annual number since the year 2013. Although with this
overall decrease in fatal injury rates, there are still occupations more
dangerous than others that represent a large majority of the numbers. Keep in
mind that these rates are based off of the total workers respective to each
occupation.
Dangerous
Occupation #1: Fishing and Hunting Workers
Coming in as the most fatally dangerous occupation of 2020 and 2019, fishing
and hunting personnel had a fatality rate of 132.1 per 100,000 full time
employees, with transportation incidents being responsible for 71.4 percent of
their deaths. This individual occupation experiences death rates exponentially
higher than any other.
Dangerous
Occupation #2 Logging Workers
The logging occupation unfortunately saw an increase last year in fatality
rates, with their worker death rate going up to 91.7 per 100,000 employees. Most
of these injuries come from contact with objects and heavy machinery. In
addition to the geographical isolation of these workers, help is often too far
away to save lives at a more efficient speed.
Dangerous
Occupation #3 Roofers
Roofer fatalities decreased in 2020 to 47 per 100,000 employees, and slips,
trips, and falls still account for their most common accidents
with roof and ladder falls.
Dangerous
Occupation #4 Construction Helpers
This particular occupation had an increase in fatality rates in 2020, coming in
at 43.3 per 100,000 employees. Construction helpers are different than
laborers, as they don’t have specialized training in areas like roofing,
paving, pouring, concrete, and welding, and work as assistants to construction
laborers.
Dangerous
Occupation #5 Aircraft Pilots and Flight Engineers
While this is without a doubt a dangerous area, fortunately, the flight
industry saw its pilots and engineers have a decrease in fatality rates in 2020,
with 34.3 per 100,000 employees. Many of these fatalities are caused by
transportation incidents and crashes in privately owned planes and helicopters
rather than commercial jet aircrafts.
Dangerous
Occupation #6 Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
These workers had a safer year than 2019 at 33.1 per 100,000 occupational
deaths. Many garbage bins are collected by hand, and the close contact with the
road and other vehicles is the most common cause of death.
Dangerous
Occupation #7 Structural Iron and Steel Workers
These
workers saw an increase to 32.5 per 100,000 in deaths for their occupation.
Many of these deaths are caused by slip,
trip, and fall incidents in their cutting, welding and steel
shaping professions. Due to operating at heights too help unload steel
shipments, falls become much more deadly for this profession.
Dangerous
Occupation #8 Driver/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers
This occupation is also down in death rates, at 25.8 per 100,000 full times
workers. This includes truck drivers responsible for cargo, food, and laundry
shipments that are delivered to homes and businesses. As expected, the top
reason for injury in this occupation is traffic related crashes and
complications.
We Make Safety Our Occupation
Occupational hazards are often contributed to by a lapse in a worker’s
training and knowledge of the environment around them, as well as lack of
machine safeguarding. Many of these fatal injuries can bring liability back
onto both the employer and original equipment manufacturers. Browse our facility safety signs and machinery
safety labels for the best quality and standards compliant products to keep workers
and operators safe.