Methodology
To determine the most dangerous jobs in the US, 24/7 Wall St. referenced the 2021 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupations are ranked according to the most annual fatal injuries per 100,000 workers. Employment data used to calculate fatalities and injuries per worker came from the BLS Employment Projections program for 2021. Non-fatal injury data from the BLS Survey of Non-fatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses from 2020.
We excluded broad-categories of occupations to avoid double counting fatalities. For example, we included commercial airline pilots on this list of most dangerous jobs, but we excluded the broader category of airline pilots and flight engineers. Occupations with fewer than five reported fatalities in 2021 were excluded.
Information about common causes of injury also came from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries report. The reported injuries are often only for a fraction of the total number of fatalities, and so the cause listed may not necessarily be the most common cause of 2021 deaths. In cases where causes of death were not reported to the BLS, such as with commercial pilots, fallers, and commercial divers, athletes and sports competitors, wellhead pumpers, taxi drivers, elevator and escalator installers and repairers, we conducted independent research. A clear common cause of death for audiovisual equipment installers and repairers could not be determined.
