September 18, 2006

Most dangerous jobs

Most dangerous jobs - Aug. 16, 2006

A lobsterman drowned off the New Hampshire coast early in August, after he got entangled in nets and dragged overboard.

A day or two before that a Washington logger was struck in the neck and killed by a log that had worked loose and rolled down a hillside.

The Gloucester fisherman monument records all the fatalities the town's fishermen have suffered over the decades. More than 10,000 names are listed.

In central California on August 5, a crop duster pilot crashed and died.

For many occupations danger is part of the job description. That is made abundantly clear every year when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its annual census of fatalities in the workplace.

The report for 2005, released this week, includes data on fatal work-related injuries by industry, gender, age and, especially, by occupation.

The BLS does not count combat deaths in its survey; if it did, the military would undoubtedly have qualified as America's most dangerous job last year.

Rank Occupation Death rate/100,000 Total deaths
1 Fishers and fishing workers
118.4
 48
2 Logging workers
92.9
 80
3 Aircraft pilots
66.9
 81
4 Structural iron and steel workers
55.6
 35
5 Refuse and recyclable material collectors
43.8
 32
6 Farmers and ranchers
41.1
 341
7 Electrical power line installers/repairers
32.7
 36
8 Driver/sales workers and truck drivers
29.1
 993
9 Miscelleneous agricultural workers
23.2
 176
10 Construction laborers
22.7
 339
Posted by pqbon at September 18, 2006 5:59 PM
Comments

The Death rate/100,000 for American soldiers in Iraq last year was on the order of 600. Across the entire United States military, it's about 20/100,000, which wouldn't place on this list...except that's for all military employees, rather than just active duty and mobilized reserves. Their rate is on the order of 40/100,000, which would place just below farmers and ranchers. Of course, most deaths are in the land branches, whose rate is around 90/100,000, which lands just short of logging workers.

Posted by: parakkum at September 18, 2006 9:14 PM