Death on the Job Roof Workers are Safer, but Construction Industry Still Tops the List
In the last issue, we talked about OSHA visits to jobsites and the cost of OSHA fines and worker injuries. Now we’re going to look at another set of statistics about jobsite worker safety, the ultimate construction tragedy… death on the job. This is always heart breaking, obviously for the family of the worker, but also for the coworkers, the company, and you, as the owner of the company.
I know several of you have gone through this experience. I’ve heard your stories, and it’s not easy. Even one death is a tragedy, and I’m not making light of the situation, but merely presenting the numbers as compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to the figures, roofing is not on the top of the list. In fact, roofing isn’t even the most dangerous construction job. By far, the most dangerous industry is trucking, with 469 highway related deaths last year. Highway deaths have always topped the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics list, at least for as long as they’ve been keeping track using their current system.
Second on the list is mining, with 175 deaths last year. This is followed by forestry and logging, with 98 deaths. Fourth on the list are taxi and bus drivers with 76. Not surprisingly, the majority of their deaths are caused by robbery/homicides, not accidents.
Tied with taxi and bus drivers are construction site preparation crews with 76 deaths. This is the first time a construction job shows up on the list. At number six are roofing workers with 71 deaths last year.
As a group however, the highest number of work related fatalities involve personnel on construction sites. Overall, construction accounted for 969 worker fatalities last year. Of course, this takes in to account all construction trades. In addition to construction site preparation crews and roof workers, there are construction laborers (69), carpenters (65), electricians (60), and a host of other trades.
What’s very surprising is that police (32) and fire (29) personnel used to be near the top of the list and are now found in the number 10 and 12 spots. The same holds true of convenience store clerks with only 28 deaths last year (ranked number 13). Ten years ago, convenience store clerks accounted for about three times as many worker fatalities. Are they now armed? Do they have better security in the stores? Or are would-be robbers just much poorer marksmen than they used to be? However you slice it, apparently it’s now a much safer environment inside a 7-11.
Overall, the rate of fatal work place injuries has been steadily declining. In 1992, the rate was 5.2 deaths per 100,000 workers. Today, the rate has dropped to 3.8 deaths per 100,000 workers, a vast improvement.
So what are the safest professions? The jobs where you’re most likely to survive the year? Well, there’s a bunch of them all tied with three fatalities each: judges, actors, nursing home attendants, hospital administrators, employment placement administrators, financial investors, to name a few.
But the one I, personally, find the most comforting is that editors also made that exclusive list of only three deaths per year. I guess you can’t get hurt too bad sitting at your desk all day surfing the web and pretending that you’re working. My question is… what the heck were those three doing?
