Garbage collector is one of the most dangerous jobs in America, which nobody selected. On the Fox News station in Florida, they were carrying a news item today a man who was critically injured when a pickup truck plowed into the garbage truck that was stopped in the road to pick up garbage. The Department of Labor “study” is not very useful – it presupposes the answer to its own survey – gathering statistics on deaths in categories it already thinks are dangerous.
Mining is nowhere near the top. It may be a horrible way to die, and you probably will have lots of other health issues, but it isn’t a job with a high risk of death (at least in the United States). Crab fishing in Alaska and crop dusting are at the top of the list. Being a fireman and policeman are nowhere near the top of the list – while some of each die every year, there are so many people employed doing that work that the rate is very low. Most policeman never even have to fire their weapon once in their entire career.
Even being a soldier in the military is not that life-threatening. During the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 700 soldiers a year have died – but the military has about 1.7 million full time equivalents – which makes it about 41 per 100,000 per year. Most of the people in the military are not driving past IEDs every day – they’re shuffling paperwork in Florida or Washington DC or riding around on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific ocean. You’re about as likely to die from a training accident or suicide than from enemy fire.
http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/death_Rates1.pdf
