Mining and police work most dangerous U.S. jobs
Disasters at a U.S. coal mine and aboard an oil rig operated by British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico again made mining one of the most dangerous jobs in 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In private mining, fatal work injuries rose 74 percent to 172 in 2010 from 99 a year earlier, the agency’s figures showed.
Fatality rates for mining rose to 19.9 in 2010 from 12.4 in 2009 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the Gulf coast, licensed to British Petroleum, exploded and killed 11 workers last April, causing the largest accidental oil spill into an ocean in history.
Also last April, an explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal Mine in West Virginia owned by Massey Energy Co killed 29 miners.
The police profession was not far behind mining as a dangerous occupation, with the number of fatalities increasing by 40 percent to 134 last year from 96 in 2009.