Every workplace has a chance of workplace injuries that call for workers’ compensation benefits. Yet some occupations are inherently more dangerous than others due to the nature of the work performed in that industry. Which occupations have the most workplace injuries in an average year?
According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), logging workers are most at risk for fatal workplace injuries. The information that was gathered in 2018 shows that nearly 100 out of every 100,000 full-time loggers died that year due to a workplace accident. It is not known how many nonfatal injuries were reported among loggers, though.
Other occupations on the list of the most dangerous in terms of fatal accidents were:
- Fishers and other fishing-related workers
- Aircraft pilots
- Roofers
- Garbage collectors
- Commercial truck drivers
- Agricultural workers
- Steelworkers
- Construction workers and supervisors
- Landscaping workers and supervisors
Most Common Cause of Fatal Workplace Accidents
The BLS data not only organized fatal accidents by occupation, but also by the type of work activity involved in those accidents. By a large margin for the past three years, transportation-related accidents have been the leading cause of workplace fatalities tracked by the BLS. Again, the number of nonfatal accidents is not clear, possibly due to inadequate reporting procedures among companies and industries that downplay nonfatal injuries.
According to the BLS information, 40% of all workplace fatalities tracked were caused by “transportation incidents.” Such incidents could be described as traffic accidents, crush accidents involving a worker and an industrial vehicle, injuries caused by cargo falling off an unsecured vehicle, and so forth.
Other leading accident types in the BLS data are:
- Fall, slip, and trip accidents
- Attacks carried out by another person or an animal
- Contact or crush injuries with heavy equipment
- Exposure to dangerous substances
Additional Workplace Injury Information
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has shined a light on workplace accidents among senior workers. In the average workplace, workers who are 65 or older are 200% more likely to be in an accident than any other age group. The one silver lining is that the BLS has seen a slight drop in workplace fatalities among seniors since 2017.
Another interesting point of information from the BLS is that 28 states saw noticeable increases in workplace fatalities between 2017 and 2018. Only 20 states and the District of Columbia saw encouraging drops. This information suggests that more than half the country needs to adopt better state-level rules and regulations for protecting workers from dangerous on-the-job accidents.
One last point to consider is that workplace fatalities among Black, Hispanic, and Latinx workers seem to be on the rise. All three groups saw 3% or greater increases in fatalities from 2017 to 2018, with the same trend assumed to be found in 2019 data, which is yet to be finalized. There is also a concerning note that about two-thirds of all fatally injured Hispanic or Latinx workers were born in another country and immigrated into America in some fashion. This data coincides with the high rate of fatalities in fishing, roofing, agricultural, and landscaping industries, which often attract skilled laborers from other countries as locals and U.S. citizens tend to pass on such job opportunities.
Hurt on-the-job in Modesto, California? Did you lose a loved one to a dangerous workplace accident? Rancaño & Rancaño, APLC understands your plight and wants to represent you. Call our workers’ compensation lawyers at (916) 884-6554 right away. Se habla Español.
