Some workers are at substantially higher risk for an injury on the job than others. Overall, employers in New Hampshire do a great job of keeping their workers safe. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data from 2019 reported by the AFL-CIO, New Hampshire is the second-safest state for workers.
Still, people do get injured on the job – sometimes fatally. Which industries report the most worker deaths each year?
Transportation and warehousing
Transportation and warehouse work comes in third on the list of dangerous industries. Moving cargo, materials and even people can be dangerous. Workers whose jobs include transportation responsibilities can get into a crash on the job with potentially tragic results. Those who work in warehouse facilities also have plenty of risks on the job, ranging from items falling off shelves to accidents with forklifts.
Natural resource extraction
Taking natural resources from the earth and making them accessible for business purposes isn’t easy. Those who work in quarries, mines and in the oil and gas industries are in the second-most-dangerous line of work. Their risks range from accidents on the way to offshore facilities to explosions, fires and cave-ins.
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
Those who work in these four areas have the greatest risk for fatal injuries on the job. Harnessing natural resources is dangerous even if the resources themselves aren’t as volatile as gas or coal.
Agricultural employees can be seriously injured if a tractor rolls over, while forestry professionals could get struck by a falling tree. The unpredictable nature of these jobs contributes to the degree of risk that workers have when hunting, fishing, harvesting timber or farming.
Identifying whether your job is in a high-risk injury could help you better protect yourself from a possible injury at work. If you do suffer an injury, be sure to learn about your right to seek workers’ compensation benefits.