People may not be surprised to learn that certain industries are more hazardous than others. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released in May 2016 makes it clearer which modern careers are actually the most dangerous. For Oklahoma workers, this data could provide some insights into the kinds of jobs and workplace factors that contribute to the potential for ham.
The BLS report collected workplace injury data from 2014 to discover how many total deaths occurred in different kinds of industries. These values were then normalized so that they represented the number of fatalities that would occur for every 100,000 workers in a particular industry. For instance, the logging industry topped the list at 110.9 deaths per 100,000 loggers. Although truckers and similar drivers perished at a lower rate of 24.7 deaths per 100,000 such workers, the fact that they were part of a larger workforce meant that there were more than ten times as many individual deaths.
Industry leaders pointed to specific contributing factors that could lead to worse outcomes for injured workers in some fields. As an example, loggers usually work in remote areas that do not have nearby medical facilities that could prevent an injury from being fatal in some cases.
Different career paths are commonly associated with specific kinds of hazards, but employers also bear responsibility for worker injuries. Companies that fail to meet OSHA standards or employ proper safety protections may place their staff in unnecessary danger, and the harm these victims sustain could ruin their lives. Those seeking legal remedies, such as settlements, should research how their employers’ management or safety policies contributed to their workplace injuries.