Top 10 Deadliest Jobs in the United States

When I took the assignment of writing an article on the 10 most dangerous jobs I thought that I had picked a really easy assignment. I figured I could copy the first list that came up on a Google search, add a little commentary, and viola!- there's the article. (Easy, squeezy! Wink.) As it turned out, this assignment took an odd personal turn.

I did start the assignment by Google -ing. I decided to Google "deadliest jobs" and "most deadly jobs" as opposed to "dangerous jobs". I mean, what's more dangerous than death, right?

I looked at a number of lists- none of which were in agreement. Which prompted a number of questions: Did the year matter? Did the source matter? Does there seem to be a trend? I actually made a chart- on paper with pencil. I had to "see" this.

The first big surprise was that none of the "rescue" careers- police, firefighter, EMT, corrections officer- made the list. Any list. At all. Ever.

Odd, I thought. I always had sympathy for the spouses of people in rescue careers. I imagined a spouse, left at home to wonder if his or her husband or wife would make it home after the shift. Call it the writer in me, but I've always had a sense for the melodramatic.

The second big surprise was where it took an unsettling personal turn. The second big surprise was that one of the deadliest careers in the United States is truck driving. My father is a retired truck driver, having driven a truck during all of my formative years. My husband drove a truck for over 35 years. (He was forced into early retirement two years ago.) So, yeah, this "easy" assignment was all of a sudden not-so-easy.

So what are the Top 10 Deadliest Jobs in the US? Before I present the list, I'll explain. I'm quoting four sources: MSN, CNN, classesandcareers.net, and careerbuilder.com. The numbers after the job title are the ranks from those four sources (in the order presented above). When not ranked by a source, an X appears.

Top 10 Deadliest Jobs in the United States:

Fishers and related fishing workers 2, 1, 1, 1

Logging/timber workers 1,2,3,3

Pilots 3, 3, 4, 2

Military service personnel, X, 2, X, X*

Structural iron and metal workers 4, 4, 5, 4

Refuse and recyclable collectors X, 5, 6, 5

Drivers, sales 5, 8, 9, 9

Roofers 6, X, X, 8

Electrical power line installation and repair 7, 7, 8, 7

Farmers/ranchers/agricultural workers 8, 9, 7, 10

Truck drivers 10, 8, 9, 9

Construction workers 9, 10, 10, X

*The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't report military fatality statistics, but if they did a military career would have been the second deadliest career in the US in 2007.

You may have noticed that there are 12 jobs in the Top 10 Deadliest Jobs in the US. I strongly agree that "military career" belongs in the Top 10, no matter what the Bureau of Labor Statistics may say. As far as the other 11 of the Top 10 go, I suspect that some occupations are "clumped" in some lists and not in others (ie: roofers and construction workers, refuse collectors and truck drivers). Even though there may not be 100% agreement, there is a definite consensus on what the deadliest jobs in the US are.

Next step: safe work environments.

Sources:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P63405.asp

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/16/pf/2005_most_dangerous_jobs/index.htm

http://www.classesandcareers.net/education-careers/2007/07/13/top-10-most-dangerous-jobs/

http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-777-Changing-Jobs-Worlds-Most-Dangerous-Jobs/?ArticleID=777&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=ccdfba7fcc984077b793d1f373453486-295107249-wb-6&ns_siteid=ns_us_g_bureau_of_labor_stati_