The Ten Most Dangerous Jobs in Georgia

The question of which jobs in Georgia are the most dangerous is actually a subjective one. Simply counting the dead tells one story. Turning those numbers into percentages, based on the size of an industry, tells another.

Tallying up hospital stays, days of recovery, and permanent disabilities produces a different list entirely — some jobs are much more likely to maim than kill.

We’ve considered all of these factors while compiling our list of the most dangerous civilian jobs in Georgia.

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#10: Retail

Stocking sales floors, helping customers, and ringing up purchases aren’t usually thought of as high-risk tasks, but Georgia’s retail workers suffer over a dozen on-the-job deaths each year, mainly as a result of violence.

Retail stores in crime-prone areas, and those that keep high-value wares or large amounts of cash on hand, owe it to their employees as well as their customers to invest in appropriate security.

#9: Food Service

In addition to the danger of armed robberies and other violence, food service workers are at risk for a variety of accidents, including burns from stoves, fryers, and hot beverages, and lacerations from knives and other cutting implements.

To mitigate the danger, food service employers should be providing workers with safety-focused training, and the safest possible tools for each required task.

#8 Healthcare

Healthcare workers are also frequent targets of violence, although their attackers are more likely to be in altered states, mentally ill, or under extreme stress, rather than money-motivated.

People working in healthcare, especially nurses, are also frequently exposed to sharp objects, pathogens, and sometimes radiation and toxins.

#7: Maintenance

Maintenance workers spend their careers fixing problems and potential problems, many of which are safety-related.

If an electrical circuit is sparking, a floor is flooded, or a gas pipe is leaking, the person who comes in to fix the problem typically falls under the category of a maintenance worker.

Maintenance workers often don’t know exactly what they’re walking into at the beginning of a job. They may or may not be familiar with the building they’re in, and they’ll have to make decisions as they go about how best to neutralize a hazard without putting themselves in needless danger.

The need to visit many different locations for work also puts maintenance workers at greater risk of traffic accidents.

#6: Private Security

In the discussion of worker safety, security jobs are a bit of a unique case. Unlike most workers, security personnel often have a duty to prioritize their work above their own safety, because their work is protecting other people’s safety.

That said, security personnel still need and deserve a support system to help them do their jobs as safely as possible.

So, for example, a security guard should expect to be the one to intervene when someone on a certain property becomes aggressive — a task which carries certain risks.

On the other hand, they should not expect their employer to issue them a faulty bulletproof vest, or their client to engage in illegal types of business that increase the odds of violence on the property.

#5: Agriculture

Based on a casual glance at the statistics, it might seem as if agriculture is getting safer, but really, it’s just getting more mechanized and factory-focused. Many jobs that would once have fallen under the banner of agriculture are now classified as manufacturing instead.

Factory jobs, whether they involve agricultural products or not, are dangerous enough to have their own separate entry on this list.

Meanwhile, non-mechanized farm work has become less common, but no less dangerous in its own right. Tractors, large livestock, and flammable fuels and fertilizers can all pose a threat to people working on more traditional farms.

#4: Manufacturing

Although manufacturing may have a lower death rate than many of the other jobs on this list, it has an extremely high injury rate.

Most factory workers spend their days exposed to fast-moving machines, which can snag hair, clothes, and limbs if they’re not well designed and maintained. Depending on industry, some manufacturing jobs also involve exposure to poisons, sparks, and extreme temperatures.

Factory work also tends to be physically demanding in a highly repetitive way, which puts factory workers at risk of repetitive stress injuries.

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#3: Warehousing

Forklifts might just be the most deceptively dangerous piece of equipment ever designed. They move slowly, and their functionality seems simple, but they can run a person over as easily as a car, and the slightest operator error can cause them to tip over or drop heavy cargo.

Warehouse employees may also be called upon to interact with the upper shelves directly, sometimes using temporary platforms with improvised safety measures.

This leaves them open to two of the most common types of workplace accidents: falling from heights, and being struck by objects falling from heights.

#2: Construction

Almost all of the most consistently deadly workplace hazards can be found on a typical construction site. In addition to the forklifts, suspended loads, and heights that warehouse workers have to contend with, construction workers also deal with other types of heavy machinery, power tools, and electricity.

Handling all of these things safely requires skill, focus, cooperation, appropriate equipment, and above all, a willingness at the highest level to take as much time as necessary to do the job right. When concentration lapses or corners get cut, construction workers can easily fall victim to a range of deadly accidents.

#1: Transportation

Transportation accidents are the single most common cause of on-the-job fatalities in Georgia, across all industries and occupations. When a worker uses a vehicle, regardless of their job description, it’s almost always the most statistically dangerous part of that person’s day.

So, it should come as no surprise that truckers, delivery drivers, rideshare drivers, and other workers who spend all day on the road bear the greatest danger of untimely death.

The risks are significantly higher for drivers who are under pressure to work fast, those who have not received special training in commercial driving, and those who drive smaller vehicles.

Everyone Deserves a Safe Workplace

Just because an industry is statistically dangerous doesn’t mean the workers who keep it running don’t have the right to the safest possible environment. Everyone who has any control over how a workplace functions, from the employer to the equipment suppliers, has a responsibility to put worker safety first.

If you’ve been injured on the job, or lost a loved one to a workplace accident, reach out to the Stoddard Firm for a free consultation on your options for justice.