Railroads, occupational risk

While the overall average occupational risks in railroads are relatively low, the risks vary by type of employee. In the first chapter it was calculated that train crews face the most risk with a fatality rate of 23.6 per 100,000 employees. This would place the occupational risk to train crews as equivalent to the average risk to workers in mining or trucking. However, given that the mining industry also has a mix of different classes of employees who face different risk levels, train crews face less risk than people working at the mine face. 

While employees face the greatest statistical risk of any of the parties involved in railroad transportation, risk analysts have observed workers will tolerate greater risks than consumers or bystanders. This is because workers are assumed to quickly become familiar with workplace hazards, voluntarily choose their occupation, and derive direct economic benefits from exposure to the hazards in that risky occupations will have to pay wage premiums to attract staff. 

Railroad work is hardly a risk-free occupation. Much of the work has to be undertaken outdoors in the elements, sometimes in hostile terrain far from medical care, and using heavy moving machinery. Fatality and injury rates vary by the type of work undertaken (table 1.2). Locomotive and train crews, and way and structure maintenance personnel face the highest annual risk of fatal injuries of 1 in 4,200 and... 

The simplest model of the labor market interaction is shown in figure 10.1. The model represents a perfectly-competitive marketplace for workers with similar skills to those required for railroad work. On the vertical axis is the wage rate and on the horizontal axis is the occupational safety risk, measured by the rate of workplace injuries. Representative firms from two industries, I and II, compete to obtain labor services. 

---