On the job injuries reach lowest level on record in Minnesota
There's an old saying that "hard work won't hurt you." And that seems to be increasingly true in Minnesota.
Workplace injuries last year reached their lowest level since the state began tracking them in 1973, Minnesota's Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) says.
In the agency's annual survey of randomly selected employers, there were an average of 3.7 work-related injuries or illnesses for every 100 full-time workers. That beats the previous low of 3.8 but is above the national average of 3.2, DLI says.
The department's commissioner, Ken Peterson, said in a statement that Minnesota's injuries have declined 30 percent in a decade, but added that more can be done to improve worker safety.
Most dangerous jobs
In Minnesota's survey, two industries tied for the highest injury rate with 5.5 for every 100 workers: transportation and agriculture (a category that also includes forestry, fishing, and hunting).
In terms of specific jobs, federal data from previous years has led to several "10 most dangerous" lists. TheStreet, Bankrate, and Forbes have them. Forbes' list looks like this:
- Commercial fishing
- Logging
- Piloting an airplane
- Farming/ranching
- Operating mining machinery
- Roofing
- Trash collecting
- Truck driving
- Installing/repairing industrial machinery
- Police officer/sheriff's deputy on patrol