Every job has its own upsides and downsides. For some professions, the downsides include particularly high safety risks.
What jobs are the riskiest here in the U.S.? A recent analysis by 24/7 Wall St. looked into this. The analysis reviewed federal workplace fatality data covering 72 occupations for the year 2017. From this data, a list was compiled of the jobs with the highest fatality rates.
What jobs topped the list? Here are the top ten:
- No. 1 – Commercial fishing workers – 100 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers
- No. 2 – Logging workers – 87.3 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 3 – Flight engineers and aircraft pilots – 51.3 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 4 – Roofers – 45.2 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 5 – Recyclable material and refuse collectors – 34.9 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 6 – Structural steel and iron workers – 33.3 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 7 – Truck drivers and driver/sales workers – 26.9 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 8 – Ranchers, farmers, and other agricultural managers – 24 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 9 – First-line supervisors in groundskeeping, lawn service and landscaping – 21 deaths per 100,000 workers
- No. 10 – Repairers and installers of electrical power lines – 18.6 deaths per 100,000 workers
What do you think of this list? Are there any entries you find surprising?
These statistics suggest that the risk of serious workplace accidents can be particularly high in these professions. Thankfully, not all major work accidents result in deaths. But a workplace accident doesn’t have to be fatal to have devastating effects. For one, such accidents could lead to workers suffering major injuries that affect them for the rest of their lives.
Given this, particularly high-stakes workers’ compensation issues can come up for workers in high-risk industries. When serious workplace injuries occur, what workers’ comp benefits injured workers ultimately receive can have major impacts on their future. So, when pursing such benefits, reaching out for experienced guidance on one’s rights and how to protect them can be very important for injured workers.