Some workers in the Chicago area face very high risks of dying in an on-the-job injury.
In our part of the country, everyone knows that Chicagoland means more than just the City of Chicago itself, or even Cook County. However, not everyone agrees on what is included here. Some define our famous Chicagoland metropolitan area as including municipalities and counties all the way up to the Great Lakes and veering over the Illinois borders.
Britannica, for instance, includes Kenosha, Wisconsin in its definition of “Chicagoland.” However, for the agency entrusted with studying fatality rates and the dangers facing workers and others of dying in preventable accidents, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”) has decided upon a specific definition for the economic region it labels the “Chicago Area.”
According to the BLS, the Chicago Area includes the following counties found both in Illinois and Indiana: Kenosha; McHenry; Lake; DeKalb; Kane; DuPage; Cook; Kendall; Grundy; Will; Lake; Porter; Newton; and Jasper.
For safety organizations and advocates of accident victims and their loved ones, the BLS research is particularly important for everyone living and working in Illinois and Indiana. The agency studies identify not only the major industries employing people in a particular region, like its defined Chicago Area, but how many people die each year in work accidents here.
The BLS studies identify for all of us the most dangerous jobs in Chicagoland. Knowing what occupations come with the greatest risk of dying in an on-the-job accident is critical not only for workers and their loved ones, but for employers concerned with meeting their legal duties to keep employees safe from harm.
Dangerous Jobs and High-Risk Industries in the Chicago Area
First of all, the BLS data excludes all farm employment, even though farming and the entire agri-business industry is known to be very dangerous in its own right. In fact, Illinois’ renowned National Safety Council considers “agricultural, forestry, fishing, and hunting” to be the most dangerous industry in this country. Read, Industry Incidence and Rates, Most Dangerous Industries, NSC Injury Facts, 2023.
For its Chicagoland analysis, the latest BLS research study compiles nonfarm employment data as of July 2024, where 4.82 Million people were employed in these kinds of jobs, across a variety of industries. For instance, the BLS tally shows the Chicago Area construction industry employing approximately 192,800 workers.
As for workers facing the highest risk of injury and death on the job, BLS reveals that the Chicago Area has some very hazardous industrial sectors. These involve:
Transportation and Material Moving
In the Chicago Area, almost one million people are employed in the transportation and material moving industry (approximately 967,000 jobs). For these workers, the danger is great. Transportation work accidents are known to be the leading cause of fatal work injuries.
For more on the dangers facing our transportation and material moving workers, see:
- Accidents on the Job in Intermodal Transportation in Indiana and Illinois
- Heavy Equipment Accidents on the Job in Illinois and Indiana
- Forklift Accidents: Serious and Deadly Industrial Truck Injuries on the Job
- Overweight or Overloaded Semi Truck Accidents: Growing Danger of Fatal Crash
- Dangerous Cargo on Freight Trains Moving Through Indiana and Illinois: Risk of Fatal Train Accidents
- Truck Cargo Loading and Unloading Accidents in Indiana and Illinois.
Construction
Hundreds of thousands of people work in the construction trades here in Chicagoland. The BLS estimates the work force to be around 193,000 people in the Chicago area. Construction is infamous for being very dangerous no matter the task involved.
Falls are particularly risky, with an unacceptably high risk of dying from construction falls being recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) in its 2023 National Emphasis Program. Read, Fighting Fatal Falls on the Job: OSHA’s First National Emphasis Program.
Also read:
- Construction Fall Accidents in Indiana or Illinois: Great Danger of Fatal Injury in a Fall on the Job
- Construction Accidents: Hurt or Killed Working Construction in Indiana or Illinois
- Construction Worker’s Danger of Being Hurt or Killed on the Job: High Risk and Little Protection
- Legal Protection for Construction Workers from High Risk and Danger of Serious Injury or Death on the Job.
Manufacturing
Chicagoland is known world-wide for its manufacturing industry. It is a growing segment of our local economy according to BLS. However, workers in manufacturing jobs all around Chicagoland must encounter deadly dangers while on task that can kill them in an instant. These include not only motor vehicle accidents (think forklifts or commercial trucks) but various types of heavy machinery and equipment that is used on their worksite.
For more, read:
- Manufacturing Work in Indiana and Illinois: Can Workers Force Manufacturers to Make Job Sites Safer?
- Factory Worker Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
- Confined Spaces: Asphyxiation Risks and the Tragedy of Rescuer Deaths
- Forklift Accidents: Serious and Deadly Industrial Truck Injuries on the Job
- Industrial Conveyor Belt Accidents in Illinois and Indiana
- Scaffolding Accidents in Indiana and Illinois.
BLS Warns: Increasing Trend of Workers Dying From On-the-Job Accidents
According to the BLS annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, the number of fatal work injuries is on the rise. As of 2022 (the last yearly tally), the worker fatal injury rate is now 3.7 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
BLS confirms that accidents in the transportation industry make up over a third (37.7%) of all these worker deaths. Construction workers are also facing a very great risk of dying on the job on our local construction sites.
For more, read More Workers Are Dying In Work Accidents Per New BLS Report.
Chicagoland Workers Hurt or Killed While On the Job in the Chicago Area
Some of the most dangerous jobs in the Chicago Area are clustered in three specific industries: transportation and material moving; construction; and manufacturing. While the risks that these workers face will be as distinct as their particular skills and job duties, the overall risk to their lives remains a common denominator.
Too many workers in our part of the country face an unacceptably high risk of being killed at work, despite known safety laws and industrial standards designed to keep them safe.
It is crucial that Chicago Area workers and their loved ones have an awareness of these dangers, and the fact that employers and others with possession, custody, or control of aspects of their workplace have legal duties of care they are required to meet. Sadly, all too often employers and other third parties fail to prioritize safety measures to protect those on the jobsite because of a motivation to maximize profits.
For those that are killed or suffer permanent injury on the job in the Chicago Area, be it those counties included by BLS (Kenosha; McHenry; Lake; DeKalb; Kane; DuPage; Cook; Kendall; Grundy; Will; Lake; Porter; Newton; and Jasper) or the wider definition of Chicagoland of others (like Brittanica), state laws exist to provide legal recompense.
Damages may be available that include 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 Illinois and Indiana, and particularly our Chicago metropolitan area, has a moral and legal right to be safe on the job. The BLS Research warns us that workers remain at an excessively high risk of death on the job regardless of safety laws and standards. Please be careful out there!
