What are the most hazardous jobs in America?

Based on how many workers are killed or injured each year performing the job, the top five are:

1. commercial fisherman
2. loggers
3. aircraft pilots and flight engineers
4. steel workers
5. farmers and ranchers

That’s according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the number of deaths and injuries, along with the number of workers employed in that industry, the number of hours worked and a multitude of other stats (hence, the name).

The bureau determined that the fatality rate for fishermen is 111.8 per 100,000 employees and 86.4 deaths per 100K for logging workers. The stats continue down the danger scale to entertainment, sports and media occupations with a 1.9 rating and finally to 0.3 fatalities per 100K workers for educators and librarians.

The bureau’s Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reports that 5,214 people died from work injuries in 2008 (the most recent year for which data is available). That number is down 8% from the 5,657 workers killed in 2007 – and it’s the lowest total since 1992.

The decrease is even better in Tennessee where 134 workers died from injuries suffered on the job in 2008, down from 154 deaths in 2007.

The bureau crunches numbers related to non-fatal work injuries, too, and found similar decreases there, as well.

There were 3.9 non-fatal work injuries per 100 employees in 2008, compared to 4.2 cases per 100 the previous year. In fact, the bureau determined that the total recordable case injury and illness incidence rate has declined significantly each year since 2003.

Good news for America’s workers! But it’s of little consolation if you have suffered a workplace injury and are facing an uncertain future of costly medical bills while you’re unable to work.

Employers are required by law to provide a safe working environment for their employees. The federal government enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act to “assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.” In other words, to prevent workers from being seriously harmed or killed at work!

The act established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to enforce those standards, and it provided that states can develop and administer their own health and safety programs.

Workers are given several rights under the act related to work safety, including asking OSHA to inspect the workplace if they feel the employer isn’t complying with OSHA standards. And the act protects workers who complain to an employer or a government agency about hazardous conditions in the workplace – you can’t be fired, transferred, have your hours cut, denied a pay raise or punished in any other way because you exercised any of those rights.

The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration works to enforce OSHA standards in this state and is part of the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

That department also administers the workers’ compensation system. Workers’ compensation was established to provide medical care, wage replacement and monetary compensation for permanent disabilities to workers who suffer illnesses or injuries related to their job, as well as death benefits to a worker’s dependents if the worker dies from an employment-related cause.

The system would seem to ensure that someone who gets hurt on the job will be taken care of, but complications arise from employers who are reluctant to file a claim for fear their premiums will go up, insurance companies delaying payment for a claim, workers trying to defraud the system and other situations.

Your worker’s compensation benefits are designed to cover your medical expenses, including treatment and doctor visits. It should also provide transportation reimbursement for those visits, as well as any others for physical therapy and other appointments.

Medical coverage for that injury should be covered for your lifetime.

Temporary disability payments are made while you can’t work and permanent partial disability compensation will reimburse you for any long-term impairment that your injury causes.

The definitions and values for disabilities, whether or not its permanent, when an accident victim may safely return to work and so on can get complicated. Rules and regulations may vary from state to state, so, depending on the injury, determining the proper amount of compensation to provide for an injured worker or his dependents is often complex and confusing.

Workers’ compensation is set up so employees know they will be provided for should they be hurt on the job, and so employers know they cannot be held liable for the worker’s injuries. But an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer is sometimes needed to help an injured worker get the maximum amount allowed.

With 3 million or so non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported each year, you don’t have to be deep sea fishing among icebergs, cutting down massive trees or flying a plane to be hurt on the job. It’s smart to practice workplace safety no matter the workplace.

Should you be hurt on the job, remember you have rights and there is help available to cope with what the future may bring as you recover.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 2:39 pm and is filed under blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.