The end of the year comes with many lists, especially lists of the ten best or ten worst of just about anything. One of those lists is a compilation of the ten most dangerous jobs in America. The list is based on workplace accident, injury, and fatality numbers from 2018, and by now, you may be wondering whether your job is on it.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, over five thousand American lives were lost on the job during 2018. The number of lives lost at work is slightly higher than it was in 2017. Interestingly enough, a full forty percent of those fatalities involved transportation. Contact with objects and equipment is an increasingly common cause of workplace fatalities, causing thirteen percent more deaths than it had the previous year.
The tenth most dangerous job in America is supervising landscaping and groundskeeping work. Supervisors for these services often visit multiple job sites every day as they manage the teams that provide the landscaping and groundskeeping services, increasing the risk that they will be hurt or killed in a work-related transportation accident. Transportation accidents are the leading cause of work-related fatalities among groundskeeping and landscaping supervisors.
The ninth most dangerous job in America is also a supervisor’s job – supervising construction and extraction work crews. Again, transportation-related fatalities top the list of workplace deaths for this job, which involves a great deal of travel between job sites each day. Another significant contributor to workplace fatalities for supervisors of extraction and construction work is falls, slips, and trips.
Structural iron and steel workers have the eighth most dangerous job in America. Slips, trips, and falls were the most common cause of workplace injuries and deaths for structural steel and ironworkers, who often work at substantial heights installing structural components during building construction.
Farmers, ranchers, and others who work in agriculture have the seventh most dangerous job in America. Transportation accidents top the list of causes of injury and death for agricultural workers. It is unclear whether those figures include travel between farms, using tractors, combines, and other farming equipment, or both. Most of the training that agricultural workers receive is on-the-job, so agricultural workers who are teaching newer workers how to do their jobs must emphasize safety during that training.
American workers provide valuable services to our communities and our nation. Without American farmers and fishers, our food supply would not be as diverse and accessible as it is, and we would be more dependent on other nations for food. Without American loggers, we would not be able to harvest our forests for the diverse assortment of wood products that many of us use every day. Every job on the list of America’s ten most dangerous occupations is vital to the success of our nation’s society and economy. When workplace safety is not the priority that it should be, American workers face on-the-job dangers that could hurt or kill them. If you were injured on the job, call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC today, at 1 (800) 707-9577.