2. # 20 Security Guard.
Fatalities: 8 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 0.4 per 100,000 workers .
Salary: $26,155
Recent tragedy:
A security guard at the Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington,
D.C., was caught in the crossfire
last June when a crazed 88-year-
old white supremacist walked in
and started spraying bullets from
his .22 caliber rifle. Jones, a six-
year veteran of the museum, died
at a local hospital.
3. # 19. Animal Slaughterers.
Fatalities: 2 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 1 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $27,200
Recent tragedy:
At least 24 workers at Minnesota,
Indiana, and Nebraska
slaughterhouses developed complex
neurological problems from inhaling
bits of pig brain.
4. #18, Construction equipment operator
Fatalities: 16 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 0.4 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $43,630
Recent tragedy:
Two bulldozer operators working for the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were
clearing debris near Coldwater River when
the ground gave way. The bulldozer
flipped into the water and the men were
trapped inside.
5. #17, Truck driver
Fatalities: 22 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: .4 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $37,580
Recent tragedy:
An18-wheel truck driver was hauling
stage equipment for a Carrie Underwood
concert. The driver lost control and his
truck scraped a guardrail, opening a gash
in the fuel tank that set the driver's cabin
ablaze.
6. #16, Taxi and limousine driver
Fatalities: 21 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 1 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $25,820
Recent tragedy:
Last August in the Bronx heat, two cab
drivers were killed within the span of a
week. First, driver Ndiaye Amadau was
shot in the chest, then driver Jose Pena
Seguira was shot in the back of the head in
by a passenger in Mott Haven.
7. #15, Cement manufacturer
Fatalities: 13 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 3 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $40,560
Recent tragedy:
Holcim Inc. spent nearly $1 billion to
build a cement plant in Missouri. But it
took less than a year for the plant to have
its first fatal accident. In April,
subcontractor Vincent Lavite, 38, fell off
of scaffolding and died in the emergency
room of a local hospital.
8. #14, Oil and gas driller
Fatalities: 24 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 1 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $37,400
Recent tragedy:
A worker at rig in West Texas fell
from a ladder to his death.
A nearby pipe burst, sending 3,000
pounds of water pressure, and the
worker careening to the ground.
9. #13, Firefighter
Fatalities: 7 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 6 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $45,700
Recent tragedy:
Firefighter Brian Carey, 28, was the first
firefighter killed while on the job in the
more than 100-year history of the
department. Carey died while helping to
put out a house fire.
10. #12, Police officer
Fatalities: 16 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 3 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $51,410
Recent tragedy:
Officer John Pawlowski, responded to
reports of a street fight in Philadelphia.
Two men were arguing, with one
threatening to call the police, and the other
threatening to shoot him and the police.
A threat he carried out by opening fire on
Pawlowski and fellow officers with a .357
Magnum.
11. #11, Power line installer
Fatalities: 30 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 3 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $54,300
Recent tragedy:
A worker was climbing a 300-foot pole to
animal-proof a transformer when he was
electrocuted and thrown to his death from
his perch.
12. #10, Miller
Fatalities: 12 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 9 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $37,400
Recent tragedy:
Cody Rigsby was just 17 when he
started working for Tempel Grain
Elevator company in Colorado. He
was still just 17 when he became
trapped in a bin of grain and
suffocated to death.
13. #9, Merchant mariner
Fatalities: 23 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 5 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $61,960
Recent tragedy:
A 56-foot tugboat sank in a Gulf of
Mexico inlet near Houston. The
Coast Guard was dispatched, but the
rescue team was able to locate only
four of the boat’s five crewmembers,
who were treated for mild
hypothermia. The fifth member's
body was found the next day by
search divers. Early reports indicated
that another ship's wake caused the
tugboat to sink
14. #8, Coal miner
Fatalities: 22 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 6 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $46,540
Recent tragedy:
A mine in West Virginia exploded,
trapping 13 workers in the mine.
Confusion was blamed for the 90-
minute lapse between the explosion
and the time when a rescue crew was
called at 8 a.m. It took rescue workers
41 hours to locate the trapped miners;
only one was found alive.
15. #7, Roofer
Fatalities: 34 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 3 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $37,430
Recent tragedy:
A roofer was replacing shingles on a
two-story house last fall when his
aluminum ladder struck a live wire and
120 volts surged through his body. He
went into cardiac arrest and fell from
the ladder. He was later pronounced
dead, though it was unclear if it was
from the shock or the fall.
16. #6, Airplane pilot
Fatalities: 72 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 2 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $111,680
Recent tragedy:
A former stunt pilot and stunt pilot
teacher died after the single-
engine plane they were flying in
tilted while descending and hit a
lake in Texas, sinking upon
impact.
17. #5, Sanitation worker
Fatalities: 37 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 5 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $32,790
Recent tragedy:
People heard someone screaming "Help!"
which seemed to be coming from inside a
garbage truck. But the screams stopped
soon after they got there. Rescue workers
later found the body of Robert Amaral
inside the compactor of the truck. Police
determined he had been caught from the
waist down while trying to repair a
malfunction.
18. #4, Structural construction worker
Fatalities: 46 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 6 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $47,170
Recent tragedy:
Nearly at the end of his day working on
steel girders last June, Stanley Roberts of
Indianapolis fell 50 feet off a crane to his
death. He was wearing a safety harness,
which, if properly attached to the crane,
would have prevented the fall.
19. #3, Farmer/rancher
Fatalities: 40 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 7 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $49,140
Recent tragedy:
Robert Alfred Wallace was clearing brush
on his California farm on a Sunday
afternoon in mid-July in 2008. A neighbor
bringing him dinner around found him
crushed under the wheels of his John
Deere tractor.
20. #2, Logger
Fatalities: 116 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 7 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $30,360
Recent tragedy:
In 2003, 24-year-old Jessie Rucker left for
his third day of work as a logger. He was
just learning how to drive wedges into
trees to make them fall in a particular
direction. When a 105-foot pine tree began
to fall, the base of the tree separated from
the top and crushed Rucker.
21. #1, Fisherman
Fatalities: 129 per 100,000 workers. Reported Injuries: 61 per 100,000 workers
Salary: $27,950
Recent tragedy:
Fisherman Bill Meldrum departed
from the New Jersey coast to fish
for flounder and yellowtail on the
65-foot Lydia J. Meldrum's legs got
caught in one of the boat's pulleys
and he died after going into shock
from blood loss.
