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The Most Dangerous Occupations in 2008

The rise of labor unions and workers’ compensation laws in the first half of the 20th century was in response to a growing concern over the conditions in which employees were expected to perform their occupational duties. The increased use of heavy machinery, for example, was one of the factors that had served to endanger the health and welfare of workers to a greater extent than before. There have been significant improvements in the oversight of workplace safety and in the promotion of safer working environments everywhere through the provision of safety equipment and training. Yet the fact remains that any occupation and any workplace environment may facilitate occupational injury.

Many people would assume that most office-based positions are without risk, for example, but that is because they fail to take into account the totality of the circumstances. It is often the case that workers in office jobs spend a substantial portion of their day confined to a chair and desk at which they engage in intensely repetitive physical motions. Typing may not appear at first blush to be very taxing. But despite the fact that each keystroke may not require much exertion, the concentrated repetition of the same motion can lead to repetitive strain injuries, including carpal tunnel syndrome. Non-obvious dangers such as this lurk in every work setting. Developing an understanding of the breadth of occupational hazards can be critical to elevating workplace safety awareness.

Rates of Occupational Injury

Each year the Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles a report on the occupational “Illnesses, Injuries, and Fatalities” that required an employer to document a workplace incident. It is a massive undertaking that can help to shed light upon occasionally surprising results and which can help to direct attention to industries and specific occupational categories that would benefit from increased vigilance and worker education.

One may be inclined to initially regard intensely physical labors such as construction work as the most dangerous, but the analysis of the data for year 2008 proves otherwise. The following were the most hazardous fields of employment during 2008, as represented by the percentage of workers in a specific occupational category who were subject to a reportable incident in private industry:

• Air transportation (8.7 %)
• Couriers and messengers (8.7 %)
• Nursing and residential care workers (8.4 %)
• Hospital workers (7.6 %)
• Wood product manufacturing (7.2 %)
• Fabricated metal product manufacturing (7.2 %)

For Help with a Claim

If you have been hurt on the job then it is important that you understand your rights. We can help you at all stages of the workers’ compensation process. Contact the F ayetteville workers’ compensation lawyers of Scudder & Hedrick, P.L.L.C.