The 15 deadliest jobs in America
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- New data showed which jobs had the highest fatal work injury rates in 2024.
- Logging workers had a rate of over 100 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
- The rate for all workers was just 3.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
Being a logging worker can be deadly.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released last week the results from the 2024 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. It showed 5,070 Americans died at work, down from 5,283 a year prior, marking the second straight year of a decline.
Transportation incidents at work accounted for the largest number of fatal injuries among the six categories tracked by BLS, with over 1,900 in 2024. Falls, slips, and trips made up over 800.
Some occupations are riskier to do. The fatal work injury rate, based on the total number of hours employees in each occupation worked in 2024 and the number of fatal injuries, was 3.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, but the rate for logging workers far surpassed that.
These workers, who often work with equipment and machinery outdoors to get their jobs done, had 51 fatal work injuries, leading to a rate of 110.4 fatalities per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers had a high number of fatal work injuries at 950, leading to a rate of 25.7 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.