Friday, December 17, 2021

The Deadliest Jobs


The 34 deadliest jobs in America

 Logging workers had the second-highest rate of fatal injuries among occupations in America. 
David McNew/Getty Images
  • Some jobs are more dangerous than others, although the US saw the lowest number of fatal work injuries since 2013 last year.
  • Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found the jobs that had the highest rates of fatal injuries in 2020.
  • Here are the 34 deadliest jobs in America, along with their 2020 fatality rates per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

34. Hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers

Worker pulling pallet truck inside a food distribution warehouse
Alistair Berg/Getty Images

What they do: They move materials such as from loading docks.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 5.0

33. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers

air conditioner installation
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What they doInstall or repair heating, central air conditioning, or refrigeration systems.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 5.1

32. Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

pipefitter
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What they doLay out, install, or maintain pipes, plumbing, and sewer systems.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 5.2

31. Industrial truck and tractor operators

forklift old used cars
An employee uses a forklift to transport an old AvtoVAZ Lada car at Vtormet scrappage plant outside Moscow, January 30, 2013. 
REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

What they doOperate industrial trucks or tractors equipped to move materials around a warehouse, storage yard, factory, construction site, or similar location.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 5.9

30. Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists

trucks waiting for repair
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

What they doDiagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul buses and trucks, or maintain and repair any type of diesel engines.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 6.0

28 (tie). Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers

fixing production line industrial machine
serts/Getty Images

What they doRepair, maintain, or install machinery.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 6.2

27. Automotive service technicians and mechanics

car mechanic auto
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

What they doDiagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul automotive vehicles.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 7.2

26. Carpenters

carpenter woodshop building
mavo/Shutterstock.com

What they doConstruct, erect, install, or repair structures and fixtures made of wood.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 7.8

25. Electricians

electrician
Romeo Ranoco/Reuters

What they doInstall, maintain, and repair electrical wiring, equipment, and fixtures.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 8.0

24. Security guards and gambling surveillance officers

security guard
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

What they doGuard, patrol, or monitor premises to prevent theft, violence, or infractions of rules.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 8.3

23. Welding, soldering, and brazing workers

Welding instructor Darlene Thompson, 45, poses for a portrait at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College in Los Angeles, California, on June 27, 2016.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

What they doUse hand-welding, flame-cutting, hand soldering, or brazing equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 9.2

21 (tie). Telecommunications line installers and repairers

Men working on power lines
Peter Cade/Getty Images

What they doInstall and repair telecommunications cable.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 11.6

21 (tie). Painters and paperhangers

amazon tower painter
Reuters

What they doPaint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 11.6

20. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers

construction workers
Paul Bradbury/Getty Images

What they doDirectly supervise and coordinate activities of construction or extraction workers.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 11.7

19. General maintenance and repair workers

maintenance repair
fstop123/Getty Images

What they doPerform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of an establishment in repair. 

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 12.3

18. Police officers

police
Brendan McDermid/Reuters

What they doMaintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, State, or Federal laws and ordinances.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 13.4

17. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers

factory mechanic industrial
Joerg Koch / Stringer / Getty Images

What they doDirectly supervise and coordinate the activities of mechanics, installers, and repairers.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 14.4

16. First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and grounds keeping workers

Landscaping lawn mower summer yard flowers
Paul Wishart / Shutterstock.com

What they doDirectly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in landscaping or grounds keeping activities.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 15.3

15. Miscellaneous agricultural workers

american farming
Workers weed a cantaloupe field on April 23, 2015 in Firebaugh, California. As California enters its fourth year of severe drought, farmers in the Central Valley are struggling to keep their crops watered and many have opted to leave acres of the fields fallow. 
Justin Sullivan/Getty

What they doWork on farms or other agricultural businesses.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 16.6

14. Construction equipment operators

construction seattle
: Workers construct a building that will house the future headquarters of Weyerhaeuser on November 9, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. 
Stephen Brashear/Getty

What they doOperate one or several types of power construction equipment.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 17.6

13. Construction laborers

construction housing
Construction workers build homes on a lot in Vaughan, a suburb with an active real estate market, in Toronto, Canada, May 24, 2017. 
Mark Blinch/Reuters

What they doPerform tasks involving physical labor at construction sites.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 18.1

12. Electrical power-line installers and repairers

electrical power line worker repair
Justin Sullivan / Staff / Getty Images

What they doInstall or repair cables or wires used in electrical power or distribution systems. 

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 18.6

11. Grounds maintenance workers

Lawn mowers
Greenskeepers mow the 13th green during a practice round for the U.S. Open golf championship on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York, June 15, 2009. 
REUTERS/John Sommers II

What they doMaintain grounds of property using hand or power tools or equipment.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 19.4

10. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers

soybean farmer
Farmer John Duffy and Roger Murphy load soybeans from a grain bin onto a truck 
Scott Olson/Getty Images

What they doPlan, direct, or coordinate the management or operation of farms or other agricultural establishments.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 20.9

9. Underground mining machine operators

Continuous mining machine operators
Monty Rakusen/Getty Images

What they doThese workers operate underground machines and equipment like conveyors.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 21.6

8. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

truck driver
Diane Keough/Getty Images

What they doDrive truck or other vehicle over established routes or within an established territory and sell or deliver goods.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 25.8

7. Structural iron and steel workers

structural steel worker
Ezra Bailey/Getty Images

What they doRaise, place, and unite iron or steel girders, columns, and other structural members to form completed structures or structural frameworks.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 32.5

6. Refuse and recyclable material collectors

garbage collector tip
John Minchillo/AP Photos

What they doCollect and dump refuse or recyclable materials from containers into truck.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 33.1

5. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers

pilot
Roman Becker / EyeEm/Getty Images

What they doPilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing, multi-engine aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 34.3

4. Construction trade helpers

construction worker miami
onstruction workers build the $1.05 billion Brickell CityCentre condo/retail mix use complex on July 7, 2014 in Miami, Florida. Condo projects are booming in the South Florida area as foreign investors pour money into the new residences being built. 
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What they doAssist construction laborers on construction sites.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 43.3

3. Roofers

Roofers work on new homes at a residential construction site in the west side of the Las Vegas Valley in Las Vegas, Nevada April 5, 2013. REUTERS/Steve Marcus
Roofers work on new homes at a residential construction site in the west side of the Las Vegas Valley in Las Vegas 
Thomson Reuters

What they doCover roofs of structures with shingles, slate, asphalt, aluminum, wood, or related materials.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 47.0

2. Logging workers

logger cutting tree
David McNew/Getty Images

What they doUse mechanized equipment or hand tools to cut down trees.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 91.7

1. Fishing and hunting workers

fishing
Steve Smith/Getty Images

What they doUse nets, fishing rods, traps, or other equipment to catch and gather fish or other aquatic animals.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers): 132.1

How we ranked the above occupations

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) documented how many people died on the job in 2020 for the equivalent of every 100,000 full-time people who held that job.

"Workers in transportation and material moving occupations and construction and extraction occupations accounted for nearly half of all fatal occupational injuries," BLS wrote in a news release.

Overall, the greatest number of fatal work injuries resulted from transportation incidents, with 1,778 cases in 2020. Falls, slips, trips was another leading cause with 805 cases last year. 

There were fewer fatal work injuries in 2020 than there were in 2019.

"The 4,764 fatal occupational injuries in 2020 represents the lowest annual number since 2013," BLS wrote in a news release.

To find the most dangerous jobs in America, we identified the jobs from the Bureau's list with the highest fatal injury rates. Each of these jobs has a fatal injury rate above the national average for all workers of 3.4 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. Fishing and hunting workers had the highest fatal injury rate at 132.1, which is lower than its 2019 rate of 145.0.

The above are the 34 deadliest jobs in America, ranked by their 2020 fatality rates per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. We also included a description of what workers in these jobs do from the Department of Labor's O*NET careers database or the Bureau's Occupational Outlook Handbook.

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