Pennsylvania employees who work outdoors may be performing some of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. According to the 2014 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries that was recently updated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most dangerous civilian jobs are logging and fishing. Though loggers had fewer deaths in 2014 than many other occupations, the logging industry had the highest occupational death rate at 110 deaths per 100,000 workers.

To put things in perspective, the average death rate for all civilian workers in 2014 was 3.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers. Fishing workers had a death rate of 80 fatalities per 100,000 workers, and the third-most dangerous occupation on a per capita basis, aircraft pilots and flight engineers, had 64 fatalities per 100,000 workers. Some of the other industries that ranked high on the list of most dangerous jobs were roofers, garbage workers, farmers, and iron workers.

The occupation that had the highest number of job-related deaths in 2014 was driving. There were 880 sales or truck drivers killed on the job in 2014, making the death rate that year 24 fatalities per 100,000 workers. Farmers had a death rate of 26 fatalities per 100,000 workers, and there were 270 farmers killed in 2014.

When a worker is killed in an on-the-job accident, the surviving family members often have to deal with the long-term adverse effects on their household finances due to the death of a breadwinner. Although usually associated with injuries and occupational diseases, workers’ compensation can also provide certain death benefits to survivors. An attorney can describe the benefits that may be available as well as the procedure involved in applying for them.