The Deadliest Jobs

The 34 deadliest jobs in America

Andy Kiersz and Madison Hoff 

Updated

 

18 hours ago

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

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

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What they do: Install 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

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What they do: Lay 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

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 do: Operate 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

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

What they do: Diagnose, 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

serts/Getty Images

What they do: Repair, maintain, or install machinery.

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

28 (tie). Athletes, coaches, umpires, and related workers

Michael Ainsworth/AP

What they do: Compete in athletic events, instruct or coach groups or individuals in the fundamentals of sports, or officiate at competitive athletic or sporting events.

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

27. Automotive service technicians and mechanics

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

What they do: Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul automotive vehicles.

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

26. Carpenters

mavo/Shutterstock.com

What they do: Construct, erect, install, or repair structures and fixtures made of wood.

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

25. Electricians

Romeo Ranoco/Reuters

What they do: Install, 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

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

What they do: Guard, 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

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

What they do: Use 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

Peter Cade/Getty Images

What they do: Install and repair telecommunications cable.

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

21 (tie). Painters and paperhangers

Reuters

What they do: Paint 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

Paul Bradbury/Getty Images

What they do: Directly 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

fstop123/Getty Images

What they do: Perform 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

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

What they do: Maintain 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

Joerg Koch / Stringer / Getty Images

What they do: Directly 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

Paul Wishart / Shutterstock.com

What they do: Directly 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

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 do: Work on farms or other agricultural businesses.

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

14. Construction equipment operators

: Workers construct a building that will house the future headquarters of Weyerhaeuser on November 9, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. 

Stephen Brashear/Getty

What they do: Operate one or several types of power construction equipment.

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

13. Construction laborers

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 do: Perform 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

Justin Sullivan / Staff / Getty Images

What they do: Install 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

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 do: Maintain 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

Farmer John Duffy and Roger Murphy load soybeans from a grain bin onto a truck 

Scott Olson/Getty Images

What they do: Plan, 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

Monty Rakusen/Getty Images

What they do: These 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

Diane Keough/Getty Images

What they do: Drive 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

Ezra Bailey/Getty Images

What they do: Raise, 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

John Minchillo/AP Photos

What they do: Collect 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

Roman Becker / EyeEm/Getty Images

What they do: Pilot 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

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 do: Assist 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 

Thomson Reuters

What they do: Cover 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

David McNew/Getty Images

What they do: Use 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

Steve Smith/Getty Images

What they do: Use 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.