What Are the Most Dangerous Jobs? | Contact Us Online

What Are the Most Dangerous Jobs?

When determining the most dangerous jobs, you may wonder how to rate the different criteria. Should you rate the jobs based on the number of injuries? Should you rate the jobs based on the number of work-related fatalities? This discussion looks at the jobs with the most fatalities. The most dangerous jobs in the United States are those that involve working with or around hazardous materials. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), these include jobs in the mining and construction industries, as well as those in law enforcement and emergency services.

For example, in 2015, the BLS reported that 5,190 workers were killed on the job in the United States. Of these, 818 died as a result of an accident involving a hazardous material. Mining and construction accounted for the majority of these fatalities, with 434 and 344 deaths, respectively. Working with hazardous materials can be extremely dangerous, as even small amounts can cause serious injury or death. In some cases, workers may not be aware of the dangers posed by the materials they are handling. In others, they may be able to identify the risks but have no choice but to work with them as a matter of routine.

Top 15 Most Dangerous Jobs

The BLS list of the top 10 most dangerous jobs is based on fatal work injury rate. The BLS does not just look at the total number of deaths in a particular industry. If this were the case, truck drivers would always be at the top of the list. However, there are more truck drivers employed in the United States than most of the other categories. Therefore, the BLS looks at the rate of deaths as per 100,000 workers. This more accurately rates the inherent danger of the job.

Here are the 15 most dangerous jobs, in increasing order of fatal injury rate.

Electrical power-line installers and repairers: Fatal injury rate is 14.6 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 21.

Police and sheriff’s patrol officers: Fatal injury rate is 14.6 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 108.

Construction laborers: Fatal injury rate is 15.1 per 100k; fatal injuries per year is 254.

First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers: Fatal injury rate is 15.7 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 44.

Miscellaneous agricultural workers: Fatal injury rate is 17.4 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 156.

Grounds maintenance workers: Fatal injury rate is 17.4 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 217.

First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers: Fatal injury rate is 18.0 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 134.

Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers: Fatal injury rate is 23.1 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 260.

Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers: Fatal injury rate is 24.7 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 918.

Structural iron and steel workers: Fatal injury rate is 25.1 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 16.

Refuse and recyclable material collectors: Fatal injury rate is 34.1 per 100k; fatal injuries per year is 31.

Roofers: Fatal injury rate is 48.6 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 101.

Aircraft pilots and flight engineers: Fatal injury rate is 55.5 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 75.

Fishers and related fishing workers: Fatal injury rate is 86.0 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 24.

Logging workers: Fatal injury rate is 135.9 per 100k, and fatal injuries per year is 91.

The highest fatality rate of any other profession is that of loggers, with nearly 100 on-the-job deaths in 2019. Working with potentially dangerous power tools and heavy equipment adds to the risk, as seen by the most prevalent cause of fatal injuries, as do transportation incidents. The most common fatal injury in this field is contact with objects and equipment, which is also the case in only one other occupation. With a 38 times higher fatality rate than the national average, logging tops the list as America’s most hazardous profession.

Do You Need a Lawyer if You Are Seriously Injured at Work?

The best course of action if you have suffered a serious injury at work is to contact a lawyer. There are two reasons why you need a lawyer. First, you want a lawyer who is thoroughly familiar with New Jersey Workers’ Compensation law. Although most work injury cases resolve themselves fairly quickly, if the injuries are really serious, you may be out of work for a long time. You want a skilled lawyer knowledgeable in Workers’ Compensation making sure you are receiving the correct compensation benefits.

Second, if the work injury was caused by a third party’s negligence, you may be able to file a lawsuit against that negligent party and win compensation above and beyond what you received from Workers’ Compensation. In most cases, if your employer was negligent and caused a work injury, all you get from them is compensation benefits, such as medical bills paid and lost wages covered. You cannot sue your employer for pain and suffering. However, if someone else caused the serious injury, you may be able to sue for pain and suffering. For example, assume you were injured in a work-related truck or car accident. If the other driver was at fault, you can file a lawsuit against that driver. Another example would be if you were working at a construction site, and scaffolding that was installed by another company collapsed, injuring you. You might be able to sue that scaffolding company for your pain and suffering. But the only way for you to know if this is possible is to contact a lawyer experienced in Workers’ Compensation and personal injury who knows how to handle compensation cases and third-party liability cases.

Piscataway Construction Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Harold J. Gerr Can Help Workers Injured on the Job

If you were seriously injured at work on a construction site or some other dangerous job, reach out to the Piscataway construction accident lawyers at the Law Offices of Harold J. Gerr. We will fight for your rights and help to secure the compensation for which you are entitled for your injuries. Call us today at 877-249-4600 or 732-537-8570 or contact us online for a free consultation. Located in Highland Park, New Jersey, we serve clients in New Brunswick, Somerset, Piscataway, Edison, South River, Sayreville, Metuchen, East Brunswick, South Plainfield, Fords, Middlesex, Old Bridge, Iselin, Bound Brook, Perth Amboy, Colonia, Elizabeth, and Newark.