The Deadliest Profession: Trucking
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported workplace fatality rates for a number of industries, with trucking ranking the highest.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has named trucking the most dangerous profession, not only for truck drivers but for others on the road, according to a Bloomberg column posted on Yahoo Finance last week. Heavy trucks accounted for 80 percent of the fatalities in road accidents in recent years, reported the article.
While some jobs may be considered more dangerous than driving a truck, noted the author, the scale of the trucking industry has an impact. There are 3.6 million drivers/sales workers in the trucking industry and 1.8 million drive heavy-duty tractor-trailers. Of these numbers, the truck industry experienced 28 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers in 2018. By comparison, fatalities for full-time loggers were at 97.5, fishing workers were at 77.4, and aircraft pilots and flight engineers were at 58.9 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. Yet their numbers in these other industries are considerably less.
The column cited a number of ways to improve safety in the trucking industry, including driverless trucks and mandatory retirement age limits for truckers, since accident rates increase for drivers in their 70s, and those who are 65 and older make up 7.7 percent of that category.
The author also noted that speed limits, seat belt rules and drunken driving laws in the US are more lenient and less strictly enforced than other top tier nations.
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