Plenty of people are out of work these days, but they might be safer staying at home.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor released its National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries for 2011. It catalogs every workplace fatality in the country, and there were 4,609 of them last year, 81 fewer deaths than in 2010.
Fishing is still the most dangerous and deadly job in the country, with 121 deaths per 100,000 workers. The Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch may be a reality show, but apparently it doesn't exaggerate.
Logging takes second place, with 102 deaths per 100,000 workers. Here's the full list:
1. Fishers and related fishing workers
2. Logging workers
3. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers
4. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
5. Roofers
6. Structural iron and steel workers
7. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers
8. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers
9. Electrical power-line installers and repairers
10. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs
Looks like it's better to stay indoors.
Of course, that doesn't help if one of your coworkers is out to get you. Homicide accounted for ten percent of the deaths, 458 altogether. Three-hundred and fifty-eight of the victims were shot, while 42 were stabbed.
But being alone doesn't seem to help, either. Suicides accounted for 242 deaths, five percent of the total.
Stay in one place: 1,898 deaths involved moving vehicles. And look both ways while crossing a work zone: 312 pedestrians were killed in workplace accidents. Fifty people died on trains, 70 on boats, and 146 in airplanes.
None of those numbers count if it wasn't a crash or an accident on the vehicle that killed the victim. Fires and explosions killed 143 people, 171 were electrocuted, 61 died from exposure to extreme temperatures, and 150 died from exposure to harmful substances.
Another 708 people were killed by falling, flying, or collapsing equipment or buildings. Of those 119 were caught in running equipment or machinery. And 666 people fell to their deaths. While 541 people died falling at least one story, 38 had the floor or their equipment fall out from under them, 60 fell through the floor or a hole in the ground, and 108 people died when they fell over and landed on the ground.
Still, workplace injuries in the construction sector are down for the fifth straight year, and mining deaths are down ten percent. Unfortunately, deaths in private truck transportation are up 14 percent, and more Hispanic and African-American workers dies in 2011 than in previous years.
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