Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs
97THEY THAT GO DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS 1623 - 1923
Fishing Danger
Statistics and Workplace Fatalities in the US
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The total number of deaths in the American workplace in 2006 was 5,703.
Many online references still show the workplace fatality statistics published in 2002, five years ago, or in 2006. However, these figures have been updated by the BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2007 and show significant changes.
One of the most dramatic changes has been within the Fishing Industry, which suffered extremely high occupational death rates in the 1990s. but fell to Number Three on the Top 10 List in 2006. Unfortunately, Fishing rose to the Number One slot again with a whopping 141.7 deaths per 100,000 workers.
The Fishing Industry exeprienced 400 deaths per 100,000 employees in Alaskan fishing and shellfishing (crabs, etc.) jobs in the 1990s. In 2002, fishing deaths overall dropped to 71 per 100,000. In 2006, Fishing dropped to 3rd place overall in the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America, but with a higher death rate -- 86.4 deaths per 100,000 workers.Fishing fnally reclaimed the Number One spot recently.
A TV show I have watched with awe is Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Network. Real crab fishers in the Bering Sea make a living working many hours a day, often in the dark, without a break for long stretches of time.
New ship hands sometimes cannot take the pressure and the amount of hard work and long hours required.
Clips and Full Episodes of Deadliest Catch are shown online Here.
Workplace aircraft fatalities increased by alarge margin in 2006, bringing Aircraft Pilots to the Number Two spot in the Most Dangerous Jobs Top 10 list with 82.2 deaths per 100,000 pilots, up from 70 per 100,000 five years earlier in 200, but down form 2006. This number decreased to put Aircaft Pilots in the current Number Three spot.
The Timber Industry (loggers, lumberjacks) held the Number One spot for many years with 92.4 deaths per 100,000 reported in 2006, which was a decrease from 118 in 2002. Current fatalities around 81/100,000 places Timber at Number Two overall.
Structural Iron and Steel Industry workers remain in the Number Four slot, with 47 deaths per 100,000 emplyees reported in 2006, down from 58, five years earlier. However, deaths have risen to 61/100,000 in the Number Four slot on the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs list.
Even though the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America are all high-risk, they are generally high paying jobs as well.
Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America
[Reference: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) fatalities records, 2007]
Voyage to the Bering Sea
On and Off the Top 10 List
Collectors of refuse and recyclables are Number Five on the Top 10 list, but were not in the Top 10 at all in 2002. With the increasing number of buinesses, dwellings, and vehicles in America, drivers and movers of materials such as waste and discard suffer an increased risk of being struck by a vehicle while working or of having a traffic related accident of their own on the job.
Route Sales workers and Truck Drivers have been combined into a single category since 2002, while Taxi drivers and chauffeurs made up the Number 10 position in the Most Dangerous Job as reported in 2006, but did not make the list in 2002 and did not make the current list. "Miscelaneous Agriculture Jobs" fil the Number 10 position currently and it is difficutl to know what that desingation specifically includes; it may include migrant workers and undocumented workers as well new documented immigrants and general farm laborers and casual employees paid in cash.
As it turns out, almost half of all workplace related injuries happen among drivers or material movers, such as truckers, forklift operators, trash collectors, recyclers, cabbies, movers ("Two Men and a Truck"), and chauffeurs.
Deadliest Catch - Mike Fourtner goes Postal
Other Dangerous Jobs
An additional occupation that has appeared to suffer increased deaths is the cluster in the Mining Industry. See this link for the story of the Coal Mining Disaster in Ahten County that involved my great uncle aand his work.
Mining and Disaster: The Millfield Coal Mine Disaster
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Many other jobs have danger as well as stressful conditions at times, such wild animal handling in zoos, parks and research around the world.
Wild Animal Handler, Example from Australia Zoo:
Keeper - Crocodiles. Department: Crocodiles; Reports to: Head keeper
Position Description: As a Crocodile keeper, you will undertake a structural training program to gain the knowledge and experience to work with and around crocodilians. This traineeship is competency-based and generally take three to four years to complete. All Keepers have a responsibility for the care and well being of animals under your attendance. They must be understanding and sensitive to the needs of the animals under their care. Keepers are responsible for the animal exhibit's, involved with maintenance and landscaping and presenting at daily demonstrations....Duties within this position:
- Undertake cleaning and maintenance of animal enclosures.
- Assist with the planning, development and construction of animal enclosures.
- Conduct animal health checks.
- Prepare food and conduct feeding of animals in accordance with diet requirements feeding schedules and procedures.
- Maintain records of observations and reports on animal behaviour and breeding.
- Conduct environment and enclosure safety checks.
- Undertake hands on care of animals.
- Undertake animal enrichment programs.
- Conducting water testing.
- Maintaining water treatment equipment.
- Conducting systematic equipment checks.
- Dispensing pool chemicals.
- Provide a high standard of customer service.
- Undertake public speaking and/or delivering demonstrations.
- Work within the guidelines of health and safety procedures to ensure both animal and personal, and visitor security.
- Commitment to Australia Zoo's confidentiality and privacy policies.
- Participate in performance training and development reviews or programs as requested by the company both on and off the job.
- Other duties as requested by the Head Keeper, Curator or Zoo Director.
- Attend meetings as requested by Supervisor.
- Weekend availability and own transport essential.
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Another dangerous job is any that may be included with military duty in conflict zones and war.
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine
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If you are concerned about danger on your job or at your workplace, see the US Federal Government guidelines for avoiding and alerting employers to Imminent Danger in the workplace.
Dangerous Jobs in the News
- Three killed in deadly Queens house fireNew York Post15 hours ago
A deadly fire ripped through an illegally converted Queens home early this morning, killing three men and leaving four injured, authorities said. Two people were found dead in the basement and one died later at Elmhurst Hospital of cardiac arrest, ac...
- Officers Suspended After Deadly CrashEyewitness News Memphis1 second ago
Two Memphis Police officers were suspended from their jobs after a police chase ended in the death of a pregnant mother of two.
- Defense contractor bringing jobs to NewportThe Danville Commercial-News2 days ago
Telic Corp., a military service and weapons contractor, plans to create up to 500 jobs in the first quarter of 2010 at the Newport Chemical Depot, becoming the first business with plans to operate on a site that once produced and stored a deadly nerve agent.
- Fort Hood Investigators Seek Those Who Were Near The Shooting SceneKWTX-TV Waco45 minutes ago
Fort Hood investigators issued an appeal Sunday for soldiers or civilians who may have been in the area of the deadly shooting spree Thursday and who may have unknowingly left the area with residual evidence.
- Video: Idea to Fight UnemploymentCBS News20 hours ago
As unemployment continues to rise, one proposed remedy for skyrocketing unemployment involves offering an incentive to employers. As Bill Plante reports, this idea could create a lot of new jobs.
Additional Interest
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- On This Day in History: November 6
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Peachtree City is 30 miles SSW of Atlanta and Number 9 on Money Magazine's 2009 list of Best Places to Live in America. - 3 days ago
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Keller, Texas is an enjoyable northern suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in Tarrant County. - 5 days ago
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(public domain) Control, abuse, and competition are out of control in this country and other parts of the world. - 6 days ago
Deadliest Catch
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Dangerous Jobs
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You Knew The Job Was Dangerous
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Comments
Thanks! Interesting, isn't it? Taxi drivers were on the list and then off again. I thought bicycle messangers would be high on the list as well. Deadliest Catch must mean "deadliest job."
I like it... Keeper of Crocodiles :P
The best safety device in any airplane is a well trained pilot. FSI.
glassvisage - Yes, I never imagined such a job description before I found this one for Crocs.
NMav8r - I think what you say is true. In addition, I think good air traffic control personnel and procedures help, as does regular aircraft maintenance.
Another great hub! I stayed up way past my 'bedtime' reading it!
Hi from Jim I was a shell Fishermen for 20 years
I never thought about it then but when I look back
I think WOW I mad it
I can tell a lot of stories ones an old timer told me
If your hands ever get could
Put them in between your Lags or armpit is the warmest part of your Body
I had to do this many time keep me from getting frost bite
But Thank to that old man how help me
Now I am old man
Jim Denice
Thanks dc64!
Jimd - sounds like you've had a very eventful life so far. Thanks so much for commentsing.
I still don't want to eat crab after that documentary on the discovery channel. I'm not sure I warmed up yet...
Isn't a funny life that someone actually has to put their life on line to supply people with crabs, to give people an insight to animals at the zoo, to chop down trees for lumber etc...
They all do it for that paycheck..................................... to feed their families
Great HUB Patty as usual
regards Zsuzsy
Yes, making a living can be deadly.
I could never be a miner, I wouldn't mind being out at sea but those storms are scary.
Hi burn-fat-quick!
Yes, mining is one thing I don't think I'd like either. I had a great uncle that was 7 feet tall and worked bent over in the mines for decades in and around Milfield, Ohio. He was not killed in the Milfield Mine Disater, but he did incur black lung diease.
Thanks for the comment!
Myt uncle was 7' tall and worked bent over in mines for 40 years. He escaped dying in the Milfield Mine Disaster
Homer Hickam has written many books about coal mining, including those about women in mining engineering and I receive his newsletter. I've seen October Skies many times and have read the book and listened to the Hickam audiobooks narrated by Beau Bridges.
Hickam worked for NASA, reited an deven wrote a space adventure that seemed quite real.
I've heard of fishing being one of the most dangerous occupations, not only with the waves and conditions but it's the steel cables snapping if the weight of the catch is too much. One TV show I saw said that if the cable snapped then there was a good chance someone could lose an arm or head! Scary stuff!
It is very dangerous, as you say. I saw a documentary in which men were knockd across the deck and could not get up. Sometimes arms were snapped off in crab cages. They made a lot of money and took the risks for that - I think it is a hard life. Maybe fun if the crew gets along well.
I've seen int he news that coal mining is quite a large and growing industry in China. Lots of pollution.
i am a farmer. and you would never think that it was so dangerious untill i read this.
Oh my, around all the machinery and large animals and other things involved or that could be involved, there is truly a lot of danger. The consider barn fires and whatever else might occur and I think we owe a lot to famers and ranchers, jay! Thanks for stopping by and posting.
Coal mining IS quite a growing industry in China. Not only does it create lots of pollution, it's really dangerous and results in many deaths every year. They don't lie about it either, the company will tell you explicitly that the work is dangerous and your family will (only) get ________ if you die on the job.
And yes, I think we owe a lot to farmers and ranchers! Their work is dangerous, risky, and physically demanding, and thanks to it we have food on our tables.
Andy Xie! - Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that information with us. It is material that we need to know. I'm your fan now.
I'd been in quite a dangerous job for about 8 years, and I could still recall it as the best working memories, ever. When you work in truly dangerous conditions you simply don't think about the danger it represents, but just to do your work as good as possible. (there were casualties around me, but nothing can match the feeling that you had managed to rescue one or more individuals).
Sometimes, there are a works which one could call 'mission impossible', but razor sharp focus, confidence and indestructible self belief and prayer could really make miracles...
solarshingles! - That's a great testmony to living life fully, imo. Just surviving is an accomlishment, and helping to save someone else in the process is awesome. Determination is powerful! Thanks for sharing this experience.
July 8, 2008:
News Services have reproted that the incidence of deaths from falls off high cell-phone and other telecommunciations type towers has increased 100% recently because failure to wear safety gear and other safety hazards that are preventable.
What of oilfeild and offshore workers? I have been on a offshore platfroms where 1.5 billion cubic ft of gas is flowing and were out there welding and cutting to repair there platform.....so is this a dangerous job?
Any such work on platforms, towers, offshore rigging, on ships and boats, high crane operations in construction, and anything like these are dangerous jobs. Safety measures, if good enough to work, if put into practice, make it all safer, but still not 100%. I've known two guys that were killed in construction crane accidents in my city in the last few years - too much overtime work and they were tired. $60 - 80 per hour wages for that could not purchase back their lives.
Has anyone seen the History Cannel's Ice Road Truckers? Now that's pretty dangerous.
THIS was an interesting hub. I think I need to check out this Deadliest Catch thing. I've seen a lot of references to it on hubpages.
I think people are fascinated by it, especially if they knew nothing of the hard work and danger previously.
Wow, recylable material collectors #5... looks like we're paying a price to clean the planet.
Yes indeed - I saw footage of a worker getting crunched in some of the machinery - OUCH!
Postal route carriers are another high risk job.
For a number of reasons, no doubt.
what about a us president? historically they have a 9% chance of being assassinated. id say that is a pretty dangerous job.
And it's becoming more dangerous every term.
These are some dangerous jobs. I wonder where moose hunting from a helicopter would end up in the dangerous job categories.
Having spent a lifetime working in Zoos I thought I should add my five pence on the Crocodile Keeper. Honestly Alligators and Crocodiles need very little (if ever) hands on work. A little knowledge of their behaviour and it is possible to work in and around them very safely. Zoos which put on crocodile shows which put the keeper at risk or cause the animals the least degree of stress really want to reconsider what they are doing. I have bred alligators, force fed crocodiles and even sexed them (complicated business) and never put myself or others at risk. These procedures have been very rare. I don't believe any of the crocodile stunts I have seen Steve Irwin perform were remotely clever or brave. Daft more like. Okay rant over. Thanks. Interesting hub though.
Thanks, Peter, for your inside view on your work. It brings a sense of reality to what we see on the TV and a reference for juding it all. This is a good service to your readers!
Cheers and best wishes.
awesome info. my husband is #4 on the list. he's an ironworker.
That's awfully hard work and ironworkers deserve our respect. You have my bnest wishes and prayers.
yeah i did ice road trucking for two winters,money was good but it was pretty darn cold and dangerous too
How about the military or cops or firemen? Don't they count for jobs?
Proud to serve; USAF!
Thank you for serving in the Armed Services; we respect and appreciate that service and sacrifice. Same for the other protective services. Unfortunately, there are more dangerous jobs than the services.
Several of my former patients that worked in meat packing were more mutilated physically and mentally than soldiers that joined the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines severely injured/+amputees in Iraq and elsewhere.
Ever had a semi-truck tire explode and remove all the skin on your torso/arms, remove an eye and break a shoulder and arm as an industrial mechanic? That could happen in the services, but did to my patient in a commercial job.
Ever been a sawyer and get caught in the lumber mill saw and get sliced through the body from the left shoulder down to the right hip and survive?
Fishing on the high seas is still the most dangerous.
I am a sanitation worker, and it is the hardest job i ever had. I worked many different jobs. From construction, roofing, to working in a grocery store. Just recently, within 1 month i lost 5 co workers, they were killed on the job. The job is also very stressful, i had 3 friends work there and they got so stressed out, they left work and committed suicide. Sanitation workers have to work no matter what the weather is. a few times i worked 22 1/2 hours. Running and lifting all day and night with no break. Getting attacked by all types of animals, and people, including rats, dogs,skunks, bears,snakes,raccoons, and many other animals. You get stabbed by needles, cut, hit, side swiped, smashed my other vehicles and in some cases get shot at. Nobody has any respect for trash collectors and there trucks. Its the only job that i know of that requires you to RUN all day long, and in some places they get paid crappy pay and just minimum wage. but city workers get paid on average 15-20 dollars an hour. and have it alot easier than everyone else in the business.
Speak with an attorney; your situation is serious enough to warrant a lawsuit and a workers compensation claim in some states.
What region of the country is this - NY or New Jersey? Our sanitation workers here make $25-$30/hour and overtime. We rotate schedules and no one works on holidays -- the collection day moves ahead one day, and no weekends. Our trucks have mechanical pickup arms on them. Some commerical sanitation workers make more. Recyclers are claiming much of the waste and making money from it as well.
Hope you find a better job.
Sweet hub! I love the show Deadliest catch so much! Very interesting.
My cousin was a fisherman off the coasts and wide seas of Alaska for a while, he said it was the scariest job of his life, rest his soul.
i hate when people say there job is the most dangerous job out there when i serve in the army im pretty sure the armed forces has more injuries, mentally and physical injuries and more casualties than any other job out there but we're still over looked as if we have a job that is safer than catching fish....last time i checkd a fish or crab cant shoot you, my job consists of me literally being shot at
what job has to rescue there fellow brother , before emt's or fire will respond. we rescue our fellow brothers,do cpr and first aid before emt's and firemen. our brother work on something you cant see. and you cant here it unless it shorts out or tracks across insulators. the diffrents in our life is a thin piece of rubber, the thickness of paper plate. and everyone needs what we deliver. that is a high voltage lineman. remember any one can catch fish. all the power used in the usa is delivered by so few. so google how many powerlineman they are. it is a fewwer than you think. so thank your local powerlineman. because you haven't never miss electrcity. most dangerous so what, we r so few to serve so many. bigg kuntry bigg kuntry
Thanks for your personal experiences, curtis and bigg. Your jobs are potentially deadly and are to be appreciated. My prayler lines of 1000s of people globally will be praying for you.
Crab catching in season, in Below-0-Degree Weather in northern waters, 16 or more hrs/day 7 days/week in high storms with 100s-pounds cages and cables produces the most injuries/deaths in the shortest amount of time over all other work. Lack of sleep and physical over-stress during these times produces a lot of problems that others do not have at work.
patty it is nice to know all about the wheather,cages,and etc. here is more insight. we work from buckets gaffs "hooks" from the pole. this gaff is about the size of a pencil. two summers ago i work twenty hours a day for 38 days straight. the transformers we changed out was so hot that we had to spray them with water to cool them down. so that the rigging want melt into before it could be removed. i have worked hurricanes where you have to ride a boat to a pole. when before the storm hit you could drive up to it. where every little critter is looking for blood,dry land,safety. and try sleeping under a bucket truck. because they dont have power or a place for you stay. some times up to three or four days without sleep. and then the night you get to rest your fighting off the bugs. or working in canada nine years ago when it was the ice storm of the centry. the first seventeen days was below freezening you had to beat the icy off the pole when you set them to frame them to put the wires back on. my third week it was freezening rain. they are able to deliver a hot pizza or coffee. by the time it gets there it would be frozen pizza and the coffee would be a coffee shake. plus fishing is one job title. and if was so safe why do they put the film crews in such danger. take powerlinemen out of the energy,oil production, and electrical industry. and they are ten times more fisherman to feed the world. than the powerlineman that biuld and deliver it to your house. i will admit there are a lot of people in the eletrical trade,energy, and oil. but the bulk work we do is 90% of the time is energized. i have worked on powerlines of a voltage 500,000 volts. this would give enough power to power half of the california. that is 17,000,000 people. so the next time the city you live in. remember a fisherman in one day catch engough fish to feed socal. from nine volts to a light bolt. god craete light and then powerlineman to deliver it. yours truely bigg kuntry ga rised socal lineman. p.s. film crews wont work around us it is to dangerous.
Thank you, bigg. The TV networks pay the extra money for the film crews' high-risk insurance for Dangerous Catch, and higher wages, which is why they work. So, if you can get a TV network to do a show on you and your crews, then the world would get an eyeful of another dangerous job.
Best wishes!
Can you make electricity with a fish and two wires like you can with a potato, to light a single small bulb?
patty i dont know why i am tring to let you in about our jobs. do you think about where you power comes from. do you care how mannt of my brothers have died for so freedom of lights. this is one of the only jobs where men still have a strong hold. i have only known of one linelady. but worked in a small town in north cal. have you google to see how many lineman serve power to just the us. i think you just glad to get some attention. i would say 70% of the people in the usa have fished. i would say that only less than1% have worked on voltages above 600 volts. so if i fish, and i work on powerlines above 600 volts. what does this make me a jod or something like that. i know a super hero. but then again we dont need the fame. until next time
Hello bigg - I have studied much physics, and electicity is my favorite part, along with astrophysics.
When I was a restaurant manager, I was thrown aross the floor 6 feet when I touched a malfunctioning floor outlet to which we had plugged 4 large electric floor grills. That, I will not forget. I have had other interesting experiences with higher voltage apparatus.
For interest, I will look up injury and death statstics on your work. Perhaps I will do a review of your job and suimilar occupations for a career Hub; I could interview you by email and add your experiences.
The current 2007-8 US list of death-causing work injuries reports out of 5,500 injuries, only 109 were caused by high power lines & related (about 2% of total).
The Most Dangerous List is based on numbers of deaths and % of total nationwide work deaths.
Around Irvine, California; Aerial linemen make Avg: $47K and journeymen: $54K. Captains and crews of the fishing industry die more often and in greater numbers (commerical fishing & hunting = 10% of the total USA) -- These crab fisherman earn $50,000+ in only 2 months, then fish for different species.
Fear of the job is not enough to make the job officially called dangerous.
In 2002 I was in volved in car crash that resuled in me having a broken neck, as I was re-coopin @ home I had the Discovery channel, that was the first time I had seen a program about the deadliest jobs in the world. They started with Crab fisherman in the Artic, then went to Australia where " the cowboy " fisherman dived of boats to catch Blue Fin Tuna, trying to beat the sharks back to the boats. Me, not now, not when I was younger, not ever would catch me doing commercial fishing,mining, ironworkering ( high rise), me I stick with handling race horses, tempormental horses, nor would you ever going to La. floating around in a boat in the bayou gathering " gator eggs ". Thank-you for letting me post, I do have a buddy that has a contract with the government to haul nuclear waste, what a job.
Hi Daniel,
Fishing can be pretty deadly on a regular basis, going by the number of deaths. Hauling nuclear waste sounds very dangerous to me, as does ice road trucking. I am anxious to read the next statistical results of governments' dangerous jobs lists. Hope they come out soon.
your hub is really interestin keep it up
Thanks for reading, stephany!
This hub is so interesting... I am surprised to see taxi drivers on the list though... I would think there were many more dangerous jobs than that... oh well the numbers dont lie... thanks alot
thank you so much
Another great hub !
Sorry if i missed it but i didn't see Army Jobs mentioned up there. I mean honestly speaking its the most dangerous job in the world. " Join the Army and politicians will decide where to work ". Seriously it cant get worse than that. Putting your lives in the hand of most corrupt society " The Politicians".
Great post! Very good information.
im thankful for all the men and women that serve in our military but there really aint a whole lot of them dying is there , i don't get shot at a lot but i have seen more than enough badly hurt or killed






























kpfingaz says:
2 years ago
Good info. I surely though taxi drivers would have been at or close to the top.
Never guessed it would be fishing.