Collecting trash still dangerous, but a little safer last year, feds say

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Being a garbage and recyclable collector again is one of the most dangerous jobs in America, ranking No. 6 in new information just released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

With a fatal injury rate of 27.1 per 100,000 workers in 2012, the category of refuse and recyclable material collectors ranked just behind structural iron and steel workers and just ahead of electrical power line installers and repairs, the federal government said.

A total of 26 people died on the job while collecting trash and recyclables last year, the federal government said.

The latest numbers are actually an improvement from 2011, when on-the-job fatalities for trash and recycling collectors spiked to 34, which made collection the No. 4 most dangerous job, according to statistics revealed last fall by the BLS.

There also were 26 fatalities among refuse and recyclable collectors in 2010 when the profession was the seventh deadliest, the federal government previously reported.

Logging workers top the list with 62 deaths and a fatality rate of 127.8 per 100,000 workers.

 

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