Logging is the deadliest occupation in the U.S.; some rural jobs have highest fatality rates

Logging remains the most deadly occupation in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries released on Thursday. The report found that 4,679 people died in work-related accidents in 2014, a 2 percent increase over the 2013 total of 4,585. Of the total deaths, 40 percent involved transportation, and 23 percent occurred on roadways. Falls accounted for 14 percent of deaths, and 11 percent involved getting struck by an object. While fires and explosions only accounted for 3 percent of deaths, fatal injuries from explosions of pressure vessels, pipes or tires increased by 25 percent.

Logging had the highest death rate, at 109.5 deaths for every 100,000 workers, but the highest number of fatalities occurred in driver/sales workers and truck drivers (835 deaths) and farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers (263 deaths). By industry, construction had the most deaths (874). Transportation and warehouse accounted for 735 deaths. Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, which had a combined death rate of 24.9 per every 100,000 workers, accounted for 568 deaths in 2014, a 14 percent increase over the 2013 total of 500. (Pew graphic)

Fatalities in the onshore oil and gas industry increased 27 percent from 2013 to 2014, from 112 deaths in 2013 to 142 in 2014, Pamela King reports for EnergyWire. "Though BLS does not calculate a mortality rate for oil and gas specifically, the broader mining sector—which reported 181 deaths last year, including the 142 that occurred in the oil field—had a rate of 14.1 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. That's higher than any other group of industries, save for the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector."