The United States of America is the wealthiest country in the world, but it also has one of the highest rates of workplace fatalities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks work-related deaths on American soil, and they have compiled a list of jobs with the highest fatality rate. These jobs don’t come with much money or prestige, but if you want to make your living as an electrician or construction worker, here’s what you can expect:
Contents
Construction Worker
If you want money, construction sites are a great place to go looking for it – if you can make it out alive. Construction is a hazardous occupation in America, where workers do the heavy lifting and spend their day building homes and office buildings, among other structures. They work with powerful equipment where many accidents can happen. In addition to being at risk for injuries from falling off ledges or scaffolding, these workers also face exposure hazards that include asbestos, lead paint, or silica dust from cutting concrete.
Electricians
Electricians work with high voltage electricity on a daily basis, and that’s very dangerous. It takes a long time to get certified as an electrician, but the work never stops once you’re in the business of wiring up homes and businesses for power. Workers can be electrocuted if they touch live wires or contact faulty electrical equipment. They also face chemical exposure from insulation materials, ultraviolet light from arc welding, fire hazards from hot surfaces or open flames, and noise-induced hearing loss from working around loud machinery all day long.
Logging Workers
When you hear the phrase “logging worker,” images of lumberjacks hacking away at giant old-growth trees come to mind – and that’s not too far from the truth. Logging workers scale mighty trees and cut them down for harvesting. They are exposed to rough weather conditions, heavy lifting, sharp tools, heavy machinery, electrical hazards in the form of cables or power lines nearby, chemical exposure, injury by falling off equipment or structures near moving logs, plus noise-induced hearing loss.
Farmworkers
Farmworkers are often paid by harvesting or producing crops, which means more work for less pay. Working outside in all weather conditions, these workers face pesticide exposure from crop spraying, injury due to moving heavy equipment including tractors and plows, rough weather conditions that increase the danger of falling down hillsides or into ditches or washes, injuries due to working with sharp tools like hoes and scythes, electrical hazards if they touch any cables during their workday, noise-induced hearing loss due to working around machinery including tractors and other farm vehicles.
Fishermen
Fishermen work on boats at sea for days, weeks, months, or even years at a time. Even though they spend most of their time far away from land, these workers face rough weather conditions. These include waves and high winds, exposure to highly corrosive saltwater, exposure to chemicals in fish guts and cleaning materials, injury from working with heavy fishing equipment, including nets and fish traps, and exposure to noise-induced hearing loss from loud machinery engines operating nearly 24/7 while at sea.
