One of the most tragic things that occur at the work place are injuries, especially those that lead to death. Safety regulations in the US are established and managed by OSHA with an effort focused on improving workplace safety, reducing injuries and eliminating workplace deaths.

Unfortunately, a combination of dangerous industries and ignoring safety regulations by companies lead to tragic workplace accidents. In order to better understand what industries are the most dangerous we’ve used data from the US BLS to create a number of charts that highlight workplace industries by job, type of injury, and location.

Loggers & Fisherman – Dangerous Jobs with Little Pay

The chart above highlights the jobs with the highest death rate per 100k workers and the average annual pay individuals in this industry receive. It’s clear that Loggers & Fisherman have the most dangerous jobs. Aircraft Pilots also have a high death rate per 100k workers, but at least their salary is the highest amongst dangerous positions.

Mouse Over Chart for Additional Details

Most Deaths Are Transportation Related, Followed by Falls

A significant portion of the work place deaths each year occur from transportation accidents. Interestingly, falls are the second leading cause of death for on the job accidents.

Fatal Falls by Heigh of Fall

Fatal falls can be from as few as just a few feet. More people died in 2014 from falling 10 feet or less than those that feel over 30 feet.

Fatal Work Injuries by State

Alaska and North Dakota have the highest fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers. States with larger populations like California, New York, and Florida have relatively low fatal injury rates.

Fatal Work Injuries Are Declining

The Good News is that fatal work injuries since 2000 are declining. Unfortunately in 2014 the number of fatal work injuries was the highest it’s been since 2008.

In total almost 5,000 individuals lost their lives for work related injuries in 2014. That number is still too high and the highest we’ve seen in 6 years. If you feel you’re in danger while at work, inform a supervisor, OSHA, and contact an attorney to help protect you and your family.

Source: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/