Who Has the Most Dangerous Jobs

You might be surprised who has the most dangerous jobs. They are not the employees you first think about. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides an interesting insight to the safety of workers. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries administered by the BLS, in conjunction with participating state agencies, compiles comprehensive and timely information on fatal work injuries occurring in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

Guy Toscano, an economist in the Office of Safety, Health and Working Conditions, Bureau of Labor Statistics provides this easy-to-understand, thought-provoking article. It is AU quoted verbatim with his permission. [32] 

There are a number of ways to identify hazardous occupations. And depending on the method used, different occupations are identified as most hazardous. One method counts the number of job-related fatalities in a given occupation or other group of workers. This generates a fatality frequency count for the employment group, which safety and health professionals often use to indicate the magnitude of the safety and health problem. For example, truck drivers have the largest number of fatalities and accounted for about 12 percent of all the job-related fatalities in 1995 (see Table 1—3). But this number is influenced not only by the risk workers face in that occupation, but also by the total number of workers in the occupation. 

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOU) collects information from a random sample of about 250,000 establishments representing most of private industry. Worker characteristics are collected only for those workers sustaining injuries and illnesses that require days away from work to recuperate. 

Because the scope and methodology of CFOI and SOU are slightly different, comparison of the fatal and non-fatal data is problematic. 

What is the most dangerous occupation in the United States Is it truck driver, fisher, or elephant trainer The public frequently asks this question, as do the news media and safety and health professionals. To answer it, BLS used data from its Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII).  

There are a number of ways to identify hazardous occupations. And depending on the method used, different occupations are identified as most hazardous. One method counts the number of job-related fatalities in a given occupation or other group of workers. This 

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