How Do Fatal Injuries Happen In New York?

Some workers in New York and even some jobs are at a higher risk of sustaining fatal injuries while on the job.

Those living in New York often see workers suspended high above, working on construction and maintenance of skyscraper buildings, sometimes doing their jobs as they hang on scaffolds or harnesses, hundreds of feet in the air. Some may wonder: how often does something go wrong with a job like that, leading to a catastrophic or fatal injury? Which jobs are more dangerous than others, and what causes most often lead to people being mortally wounded?

General info and the two most dangerous professions

An article by Time reports that in 2014, the U.S. saw 4.821 people die as a result of injuries sustained on the job. An interesting point to note is that the five jobs ranked highest in number of fatalities did not move positions from 2013. According to the article, the average number of fatal injuries per 100,000 workers is only 3.4, whereas among fishing workers, the frequency rises to 80 in 100,000. Of all civilian professions in the country, loggers had the most dangerous, with 111 in 100,000 dying as a result of injuries sustained on the job.

The most common types of injuries

New York tends to differ from the rest of the country when it comes to which types of fatal injuries took place most often. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that while 17 percent of job-related deaths in the U.S. resulted from trips, slips and falls, 32 percent of New York workers – nearly twice as many – died from the same kind of incident. On the other hand, only 12 percent of the workplace deaths in New York were caused by transportation incidents, compared to the 42 percent of people throughout the country as a whole.

Who gets injured the most?

It appears that 84 percent of the people who died from work injuries in New York City were wage and salary workers, while the rest were self-employed. Of all the fatalities in the city, 66 percent involved workers who were aged anywhere from 54 years to 25 years. While 19 percent of workplace fatalities throughout the country involved Latino or Hispanic workers, the figure leaps to 36 percent when taken in just New York. Men tend to be substantially more likely to die from being injured on the job than women, with 95 percent of New York City work fatalities happening to men.

If a person has died because of an injury sustained while on the job in New York, it can make a big dent in the lives of people connected to them. It may be possible to get financial compensation to help deal with the hardships involved. To consider the options, it may be helpful to seek the opinion of a lawyer in the local area who practices personal injury law.