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  • 10 Industries with the Most Fatal Injuries Per Year in the US

    10 Industries with the Most Fatal Injuries Per Year in the US

    August 15, 2019 | Personal Injury, Workers Compensation

    Industries with the most wrongful death workers’ compensation cases per year

    Unfortunately, work-related injuries and deaths occur in just about every industry.

    No matter how easy the work or how safe the environment, it is nearly impossible to completely avoid accidents or negligence. 

    Workers’ compensation claims are filed every day, but some industries are more likely to have employees injured or killed on the job. 

    In theses, industries companies and employers know the risk is higher, so they want to do everything they can to make sure they are covered if someone is to go wrong and an employee is left temporarily or permanently injured.

    How often are people killed due to workplace injuries in the United States?

    There are a handful of industries that probably come to mind when thinking about a possibly dangerous occupation. Construction workers, police officer, the military, and many other present obvious risks. 

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a total of 5,147 employees died in 2017 due to injuries sustained while working and 882,730 employees were injured or became ill due to their occupation.

    The BLS states that 2,077 deaths were caused by transportation/traffic incidents, 887 were caused by falls or slips, 807 due to homicide or animal-related injuries, and the remaining coming from things like trauma from equipment, exposure to harmful substances, and fires/explosions. 

    Related: Workers’ compensation statistics

    What industries are responsible for the most fatal in the United States?

    The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates its fatality rate based on the number of deaths in an industry per 100,000 full-time employees.

    Overall, the construction industry has the most fatalities each year but because it also has a very high number of employees, there are only around 10 deaths per 100,000 employees.

    Using this method, they have concluded that the following industries are the most dangerous:

    10 industries with the highest amount of fatal work injuries per 100,000 employees in the United States:

    deadliest industries in United States Graph

    1. Fishing & hunting related workers: 99.8 per 100,000
    2. Logging workers: 84.3 per 100,000
    3. Aircraft pilots: 48.6 per 100,000
    4. Roofers: 45.2 per 100,000
    5. Recyclable materials collectors: 35.0 per 100,000
    6. Iron/Steelworkers: 33.4 per 100,000
    7. Truck drivers: 26.8 per 100,000 (987 total – the highest among all industries)
    8. Farmers and ranchers: 24.0 per 100,000
    9. Lawn service and groundskeeping workers: 21.0 per 100,000
    10. Power-line installation and repair workers: 18.7 per 100,000
    1. Fishing & Hunting Related Workers

    In 2017, 41 people working in fishing, hunting, and related industries died due to workplace injuries. This calculates to 99.8 deaths per 100,000 employees in the United States; the highest of all in the United States.

    1. Logging Workers

    Logging is dangerous for obvious reasons. Employees are working with huge machinery, cutting down even bigger trees, and more often than not, the only way transport to a hospital is by helicopter. 84.3 deaths per 100,000 logging workers were caused in 2017.

    1. Pilots and Flight Engineers

    It comes as no surprise that aircraft pilots injuries are almost always fatal. In 2017, there were 59 deaths caused by workplace injuries in the pilot industry. 

    Industries with the most overall deaths in the United States

    Again, the previous list was calculated based on the number of deaths per 100,000 employees. Industries listed below may not appear on that list because they have a high amount of employees, so the workplace-death-per-employee ratio is not as high.

    Industries with most workplace deaths in US

    1. Construction (971)
    2. Transportation and warehousing (882)
    3. Fishing, hunting, and forestry (581)
    4. Professional services (532)
    5. Government industries (473)
    6. Manufacturing (303)
    7. Retail industries (287)
    8. Hospitality industries (262)
    9. Public administration (205)
    10. Education and health industries (189)

    As you can see, construction workers had the highest amount of workplace deaths.

    Wrongful death workers’ compensation claims

    Workers’ compensation claims can still be filed if a loved one died as a result of injuries suffered on the job. No matter how obvious or minor the negligence was, you still deserve to be compensated for your loss. 

    Please contact the workers’ compensation attorneys at Ortwerth Law to get any questions answered. 

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