Question:
I think blue-collar workers have had much more dangerous jobs
throughout our history, it continues today, each and everyday they are
exposed to the dangers in some fashion. When tragedy happens, it just
doesn't make the national headlines, or any headlines for that matter.
Some of our greatest constructions have had some major tragedies.
Watch some of Ken Burns American Stories. You might want to ask some
miners or those that work in deep tunnels how dangerous their jobs
are.
If you look Internationally, job safety is even worse (i.e., Explosion
at Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal India or Chernobyl nuclear
power station in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic chemical
explosion at the station's fourth reactor and an uncontrolled graphite
fire that followed led to the release of more than 450 radionuclides,
comprising about 3.5 per cent of the fuel stored in the reactor core.)
http://www.endgame.org/industrial-disasters.html
Answer:
I am aware of those tragedies. In none of thsoe jobs, has 10% of any
occupational classification been lost.
Maybe we should say the agents assigned to protecting the President,
wife, children, pets, family members, have the most dangerous job
then. Do they still take a bullet for the President?
In terms of death rates by industries, the mining industry topped the
death rates in 2001 with 31.8 fatalities per 100,000 workers, beating
agricultural with 21.3, construction with 13.3, manufacturing with
3.3, transportation and public utilities with 11.4, trade (includes
retail and wholesale trade) with 1.7, services (includes finance,
insurance, and real estate) with 1.4, and government with 2.4.
However, between 1912 and 2001, unintentional work deaths per 100,000
population were reduced 90%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics evaluated the risk of fatal injury
among occupations that had at least 20 deaths and 50,000 employed
workers. Based on just the total number of deaths, truck drivers, farm
occupations, construction laborers, supervisors and proprietors in
sales occupations, and nonconstruction laborers had the highest
fatality totals. Based on death rates, which take into account the
number of workers in each occupation group, fishers, timber cutters
and loggers, airplane pilots and navigators, extractive occupations
(mining, well drilling, etc.), and construction laborers were the most
hazardous occupations.
Comparable statistics if you looked at the presidency in the same way
would have to be done in man-years. In the presidency there is
approximately 2 deaths per 100 man-years, or about 2000 deaths per
hundred thousand man-years. Since the figures you gave for mining were
for one year, per 100,000 workers, that means the death rate is about
32 per 100,000 man-years. That makes the presidency about 60 times
riskier, than the most risky classification on your list. BOTE
calculations, but you get the idea. BTW, I think that something like
deep-sea fishing in Alaska would be more dangerous than mining, but
there are far fewer workers in that occupation, so they don't really
make the analysis.
