The deadliest jobs

While fatality rates are declining according to preliminary results from the 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, it's startling to know that an average of 12 to 13 people die on the job every day.

The deadliest industry in the U.S. is construction, with 775 workers fatally injured in 2012, compared with 738 in 2011. With a five percent rise in fatalities, it was one of the few industries to experience an increase. Across all industries, the number of work-related fatalities decreased 6.6 percent to 4,383. The increase is particularly worrisome since the total number of hours worked in construction only rose by one percent.

The most frequent cause of construction-related fatalities were worksite falls, slips and trips (280), followed by transportation incidents (216), traumatic contact with on-site objects or equipment (135), and exposure to harmful substances or environments (102).

The nation's second-deadliest industry in 2012 was transportation and warehousing, which recorded 677 fatal occupational injuries, a 9.6 percent decrease from the 749 workers killed in the prior year.

The occupation with the highest rate per 100,000 workers was logging at 127.8. Second was fishers and related fishing workers at 117.0. Third was aircraft pilots and flight engineers at 53.4. The risk of suffering a fatal injury is significantly greater in these industries when compared with an overall rate of 3.2 per 100,000 full-time equivalent employees.

The No. 1 event leading to a workplace injury death remained transportation, which includes roadway, air, water and rail fatalities, as well as injuries sustained from being struck by a vehicle. Transportation incidents accounted for more than two of every five fatal work injuries. About 58% were roadway incidents.

Other key findings include:

• Fatal work injuries declined among non-Hispanic white workers (down 10 percent) and Hispanic or Latino workers (down five percent) in 2012.
• Fatal work injuries were higher among non-Hispanic black or African-American workers and non-Hispanic Asian workers.
• Fatal work injuries involving workers under 16 years of age nearly doubled, rising from 10 in 2011 to 19 in 2012, the highest total since 2005. Fourteen were employed in agriculture.
• Fatal work injuries in the other age groups declined in 2012.
• Fatal work injuries among workers 55 years of age and older declined for the second straight year.
• Work-related suicides declined 10 percent from 2011 totals, but violence accounted for about 17 percent of all fatal work injuries in 2012.
• Fatal work injuries in the private mining sector rose in 2012, led by an increase in fatal injuries to workers in oil and gas extraction industries.
• Fatal work injuries in oil and gas extraction industries rose 23 percent to 138 in 2012, reaching a new high for the series.
• Fatal falls, slips, or trips took the lives of 668 workers in 2012, down slightly from 2011.
• A disproportionate share of fatal work injuries involved men (92%) relative to their hours worked (57%) in 2012. A higher percentage of fatal work injuries involving women resulted from homicides compared to men.

A series of charts including fatalities by state, occupational group and industry provides additional information.