The most dangerous jobs in America

Fishers, loggers, and airplane pilots have the most dangerous jobs in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Using the most recent data available, workers in the fishing-related industry died from workplace injuries at the rate of 200 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2009. That's 60 times greater than the rate of 3.3 per 100,000 for the overall workforce.

For loggers, the fatality rate was 61.8 per 100,000, and for aircraft pilots and flight engineers, 57.1 per 100,000.

Construction and transportation and warehousing occupations registered the most deaths overall per sector, at 816 and 579 respectively. But because those deaths are counted against a larger population of workers in those fields, the fatality rates for both occupations — 9.7 and 12.1 per 100,000 — don't even make the top 10.

The BLS reported that 4,021 men died from workplace injuries in 2009, compared with 319 women.

Twenty-six percent of the workers killed were between the ages of 45 and 54. Four in 10 workplace deaths in 2009 took place while driving. Another 18 percent involved assaults and homicide. Other leading causes included explosions (3 percent of deaths), falls (14 percent), exposure to harmful substances (9 percent) and being struck by objects (10 percent).

The preliminary total of 4,340 fatal work injuries was down from a final count of 5,214 fatal work injuries in 2008. The 2009 total represents the smallest annual preliminary total since the BLS' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program was first conducted in 1992. Some of that, the bureau told the New York Times, was caused by a 6 percent decline in total work hours. But the BLS acknowledged another likely reason for the decline was that deficit-plagued state agencies had been delayed in collecting information and reporting deaths resulting from workplace injuries.

The safest jobs in America are in the fields of education, training and health services, with 0.7 deaths per 100,000

Dangerous jobs: The list

2
Logging Workers
Fatal injury rate:
61.8 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 34

3
Aircraft Pilots/Flight Engineers
Fatal injury rate:
57.1 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 63

4
Farmers and Ranchers
Fatal injury rate:
38.5 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 293

5
Roofers
Fatal injury rate:
34.7 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 60

6
Iron and Steel Workers
Fatal injury rate:
30.3 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 18

7
Sanitation Workers,
Including Recycling Collectors
Fatal injury rate:
25.2 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 19

8
Industrial Machinery Installers
and Maintenance Workers
Fatal injury rate:
18.5 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 81

9
Drivers,
Including Sales and Truck Operators
Fatal injury rate:
18.3 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 586

10
Construction Laborers
(Not Including Equipment Operators)
Fatal injury rate:
18.3 deaths per 100,000 workers
Total deaths: 224

© Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.