In 2020, 4,764 fatal workplace injuries were recorded in the United States—just under 3.5 fatalities for every 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. This means that for the majority of Americans, dying on the job is not a significant risk, and perhaps not even a thought. But some of the most essential jobs in our society bear a disproportionate risk of death, despite workplace protections.
People responsible for harvesting our food, mining valuable resources, or building our infrastructure are working with dangerous machinery in harsh environments under strenuous conditions. While those things can get safer—and over time technology and regulations have lowered accident rates—occupational hazards will always exist.
Many of the deadliest workplace accidents in American history—like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire or the Monongah mining disaster—were a result of negligent employers and a lack of worker safety standards. Others were the product of human error, and today serve as examples of the dangers inherent in certain industries.
Workplace safety has come a long way over the last two centuries, often in response to public outcry following such disasters. In 1994, the annual census of workplace fatalities registered nearly 2,000 more deaths compared to 2020 in part due to more highway accidents and workplace shootings. A combination of improvements to protective legislation, like the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, as well as better data collection and actionable analysis, like the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, have led to the worker safety standards we see today.
Stacker analyzed the occupations with the highest fatal injury rates according to 2020 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Rates are calculated per 100,000 full-time worker equivalents, meaning the rate may be higher than the actual total number of fatalities, which are also provided.
