A blog post published yesterday by the U.S. Department of Labor shines a light on exactly how much more dangerous trucking is than an average job.
Trucking Is One Of The Most Dangerous American Jobs
The DOL report provided grim statistics on fatalities in trucking. It said in 2014, 761 truck drivers died on the job and that the number of truck drivers who die while working has increased every year for the past five years. The DOL also said that one out of every six American workers who dies on the job is a truck driver.
Truckers At Increased Risk For Injury And Illness
The report also focused on the dangers truck drivers face from injuries and illnesses, claiming that a semi truck driver is three times more likely than the average American worker to come down with an injury or sickness that prevents them from working. The top trucking injuries that cause drivers to miss work were listed as “slips, trips and falls, and overexertion.” And when truckers did get hurt, it took them longer to recover and return to work then average workers: more than 20 days for truckers as opposed to less than 9 days for other workers.
The DOL says that they hope that this information makes work safer in some way for truck drivers: “We hope that this kind of detailed information will help employers improve conditions for tractor-trailer drivers, as well as empower workers with knowledge about the hazards they’re likely to encounter.”
Sources:
Department of Labor