Working for These Six Industries in Georgia Could Cost Your Life

Every job can be dangerous in one way or another, but some industries are statistically more dangerous than others. If you work in Georgia, you should know which industries are more likely to put you in a potentially fatal accident.

Delivery & Transportation

In the modern era, everyone wants their purchases immediately. As a result of this time pressure, the delivery and transportation industries have ballooned across the nation. Similarly, work-related accident risks for ride-share drivers, delivery truck drivers, and warehouse workers have increased.

Workers in the delivery and transportation industry can be at risk for these fatal accidents or injuries:

• Motor vehicle crashes
• Crush injuries
• Forklift accidents

Nursing & Healthcare

It might seem ironic, but working in medical fields like nursing and healthcare can be bad for your health. Medical professionals have some of the most stressful and physically demanding jobs in any industry. If you work in healthcare, it is likely a matter of when, not if, you will be harmed by a work-related injury or illness.

Two of the biggest threats to healthcare workers in Georgia are:

• Violent patients: Patrons and customers can be ornery in any industry, but patients receiving healthcare are among the most likely to be angry and violent, especially if the patient has been hospitalized for a cognitive impairment like psychosis.
• Heavy patients: Health care workers, and in particular home health aides, often have the difficult job of lifting patients. Add in the fact that many patients are deconditioned, obese, and may not be able to assist much in their own care, and you have a recipe for a fall or back injury. Many people in the health care industry do not understand their legal rights. An injury suffered while trying to lift or push a patient should be covered by workers’ compensation, even if that injury is suffered slowly over time (i.e., a repetitive use or cumulative injury).

Factory & Manufacturing

Big cities in Georgia like Atlanta have industrial districts where there are plenty of work opportunities in warehouses and manufacturing facilities. Those opportunities are often available because few people want to work in a career field that is known for its constant dangers. Heavy machinery is always dangerous, even when ample precautions are taken. The wrong move around dangerous machinery can be deadly in an instant.

Life-changing injuries that can happen in the average factory or manufacturing accident include:

• Crush injuries
• Caught-in/between accidents
• Degloving injuries
• Severe burns
• Exposure to toxic substances
• Amputations

Logging and Tree Cutting

Georgia is one of the nation’s leaders in the logging industry. More than 1,500 companies in the state are involved in timber harvesting and processing. Even as the industry thrives, the risk of a workplace accident increases.

Loggers work long hours on their feet, leading to exhaustion and related accidents. Oftentimes, loggers also climb up and down trees to trim branches or prepare the entire tree for felling. Using dangerous equipment like chainsaws can also put a logger at a higher risk of a workplace accident.

Construction

Of course, no list of dangerous workplaces in Georgia – or anywhere – would be complete without the construction industry. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has considered construction as one of its most dangerous industries for decades. Each year in Georgia, dozens of construction workers lose their lives in workplace accidents, many of which involve the use of construction vehicles like cranes, bulldozers, and dump trucks.

Statistically, the four most common causes of construction-related fatalities are:

• Falls from heights
• Struck by objects
• Electrocutions
• Caught-in/between accidents

Farming & Agriculture

The growth, cultivation, and transportation of food, produce, and farm products is a massive industry in Georgia. More than $73 billion is added to the state’s economy each year in this industry alone. However, the pressure to keep up with the demand of this profitable industry leads some companies and employers to cut corners, making the farming/agriculture industry in Georgia more dangerous than it has to be.

Hundreds of injuries are reported each day in Georgia’s agricultural industry. Most reports involve strains, repetitive stress injuries, and exhaustion, but these injuries can still be serious enough to take someone off the job for a long time. Also, fatal accidents involving farming equipment and heat exhaustion are a constant threat to agricultural workers.

To make matters worse for farm workers, Georgia is one of the few states that provides almost no protection, legally speaking for farm workers. Under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-1, farm and agricultural workers are almost never covered by workers’ compensation insurance. The State of Georgia also does not require employers to provide workers’ compensation coverage for the migrant or seasonal farmworkers who make up a large portion of the workforce. However, if these workers are injured by someone’s negligence, other than their own, they may have the right to file a personal injury claim. Farms and agricultural operations sometimes have general liability or farm owners’ insurance, and an injured worker can sometimes get a fair recovery, depending on the circumstances.

Know Your Rights If You Work in a Deadly Industry

Do you work in one of the six deadliest industries in Georgia? You need to know your rights as a worker, just in case you’re ever caught in a bad accident at work.

You should know that you have the right to a safe workplace, even if the work itself can be considered inherently dangerous. If a workplace accident does happen, you have the right to workers’ compensation insurance. And if you work in an industry outside the workers’ compensation system, you may have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit.