Not all jobs are the same. Some of us go to work here in our part of the country with a very low risk of being injured or killed while on the job. Conversely, others of us enter a worksite each day to earn a living where the risk of catastrophic or fatal bodily injuries is unacceptably high.
The Most Dangerous Lines of Work: Truck Drivers and Construction Workers
The federal government monitors how dangerous worksites are in the United States. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”) has its Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities (IIF) program which collects data regarding jobs and worksite injuries in the American labor market. According to the latest information provided by the BLS, the two most dangerous lines of work in the United States are (1) transportation and material moving and (2) construction and extraction.
Together, the BLS shows that these two occupations caused almost half of all workplace deaths (47.4%). Obviously, working construction or driving a semi-truck are both extremely dangerous endeavors.
The National Top Ten List of Most Dangerous Occupations
However, even more detailed information has been revealed in an analysis of BLS data by journalists at Stacker, where they used 2020 BLS data to confirm the most dangerous jobs in America today. Read, “Jobs With The Highest Fatality Rates In The US,” published by ABC50Now on June 4, 2022.
From their work, where the highest fatality rates were used to calculate the most dangerous occupations, the ten most dangerous jobs in the United States were identified as:
10. Farmers, ranchers, agricultural managers
Deadly risks here include transportation accidents (e.g., overturned tractors) and exposure to toxic chemicals.
9. Underground mining machine operators
Mines are always very dangerous workplaces, where most tasks come with high risk. Some of the greatest fatality hazards here include explosions; trench and excavation collapses; and machinery accidents.
8. Delivery Drivers
Delivery drivers face a very significant risk of a fatal motor vehicle accident on the road, with fatal crashes being the leading cause of death for these workers.
7. Iron and steel workers
Iron and steel workers are employed in large commercial construction projects where they are tasked with building huge metal frames. This may require them to work at very great heights with their greatest fatality risk being falls from a great height.
6. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
Garbage trucks and waste collection is extremely essential to our society, and the work of waste collectors must be respected and honored as being vitally important. Their risk of death on the job is shockingly high, resulting not only from a crash, but also from a struck-by incident or fall.
5. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers
Pilots and those who work with them to operate aircraft, both private and public, face tremendous dangers on the job. Plane crashes are often deadly.
4. Helpers, construction trades
All construction workers face extreme hazards on their job site, and some skills are known to come with significant risk such as masonry or electrical work. However, construction helpers face a particularly high risk of death while on the job, with the most common causes being falls and motor vehicle accidents; electrocutions; toxins; and equipment incidents also ranking among construction helper fatalities.
3. Roofers
Roofing for either residential construction or commercial construction is a notoriously high risk for professional roofers. They face an extreme danger of falling to their deaths from roofs themselves, as well as from scaffolding or ladders.
2. Logging workers
Trees have to be cut in order for manufacturers to create products that range from furniture to paper goods. Loggers face tremendous hazards as they cut down the trees themselves, prune their limbs or branches, or transport the wood using logging equipment and trucks.
1. Fishing and hunting workers
Commercial fisherman as well as commercial hunters and trappers do some of the most dangerous work in the country. Their worksites come with high-risk machinery and equipment. They must work in extreme weather situations with those unique dangers. Commercial fishing and hunting occupations also face the dangers of working with wildlife, as well. Drowning is the biggest risk facing fishing trades.
Commercial Truck Drivers Have the Most Dangerous Job in America
Diving deeper in the latest BLS data, another news group compiled its own analysis of dangerous occupations in this country, and learned that the “fatality rates” studied by the above-referenced research provides a different result than a study of actual worker death numbers. Read, “This Is the Most Dangerous Job in America,” written by Douglas A. McIntyre and published as a Special Report by 24/7 Wall Street on January 7, 2022.
According to this Special Report’s findings, “…[h]eavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers is the most dangerous job in America.” Coming in second were (2) construction laborers, followed by (3) farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers.
Truck Drivers Have the Most Dangerous Job in Illinois
BLS research warns us that the most dangerous job to have in the State of Illinois involves transportation, with “transportation incidents” having responsibility for almost half (41%) of all Illinois worker deaths.
The most dangerous job among Illinois’ transportation industry according to the BLS? General freight truck drivers.
Construction Work is the Most Dangerous Job in Indiana
Sadly, the latest research reports analyzing BLS data confirms that the State of Indiana is one of the ten most dangerous states in the country for workers, with Indiana ranking as the eighth deadliest in the United States. Read, “Indiana among 10 most dangerous states for workers,” written by Lisa Long and published by Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly on February 4, 2022.
According to the Indiana Department of Labor, the Hoosier construction industry suffered the most workplace fatalities in 2020, which was a devastating jump of 47.62% from the previous year’s fatality totals.
Most construction worker deaths in Indiana were the result of falls; motor vehicle accidents; and exposure to toxins. Coming in second was the state’s transportation and warehousing industry, where most deaths were attributed to motor vehicle accidents, largely on the state’s highways.
Seeking Justice after Deadly Work Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
Going to work and earning a living here in our communities should not come with the current levels of risk that workers will die or suffer permanent harm in an on-the-job accident. These statistics and their resulting studies are not news to employers, or their insurance carriers, much less the regulatory agencies (e.g., Federal OSHA, Indiana OSHA, Illinois OSHA) that oversee workplace safety here.
Having knowledge that some jobs come with greater danger warrants even greater safety steps by employers to keep workers safe. These statistics and safety studies are red flags to employers and others with responsibilities to workers on jobsites to boost their levels of care.
Every worker in Illinois and Indiana should be able to depend upon their employer to minimize the perils they face at work by meeting or exceeding the standards of care and safety set by legal regulation and statute.
The above tallies confirm that some workers – particularly those in construction, transportation, and the other “most dangerous jobs” – are working with an infuriatingly well-understood risk of death while on the job. For these workers who are hurt at work, there may be legal claims for recompense available to them for breaches in legal duties of care and safety that can provide for things like medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss earning capacity, lost wages, funeral expenses, and more.
For more, read:
- The Increasing Danger of Dying on the Job: Fatality Risk Just Keeps Growing for Workers
- Workplace Safety and OSHA Regulations in Indiana and Illinois
- Job Site Injury in Illinois or Indiana: When Accidents at Work Are Not Worker’s Compensation Claims
- When Workers Die Because of Employer’s Willful Violation of Safety Laws: New Indiana Statute
- Workers Compensation in Indiana and Illinois: Work-Related Injuries and the Fight Against Corporate Greed.
Every worker in Lafayette, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois has a right to be safe on the job. The most dangerous job reports from BLS Data reiterate that the danger of death on-the-job remains unacceptably high in Illinois and Indiana as well as the rest of the nation. Please be careful out there!
