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Volume 11, Number 7—July 2005
Perspective

Occupational Deaths among Healthcare Workers

Kent A. Sepkowitz*Comments to Author  and Leon Eisenberg†
Author affiliations: *Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA; †Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Main Article

Table 3

Occupational death rate for various jobs, United States (in descending order)*

Occupation No. employed (× 103) Total deaths Death rate
Fisherman 39 46 1,179
Construction worker 825–1,108 1,198 1,081–1,452
Pilot 107–129 102 791–953
Military (active and reserve) 2,600 94 361
Truck driver 2,544–3,365 530 157–208
Protective service 2,000 219 108
Firefighter 1,100 102 93
US workforce 136,000 5,780 42.5
Healthcare worker 6,200–9,100 157–353 17–57
Sheetmetal worker 172–207 8 39–46
Bartender 339–427 10 23–29
Lawyer 490–920 6 7–14
Waiter 1,893–1,981 9 5

*Numbers represent average of annual deaths during 3-year period, 2000–2002. Range of number employed reflects 2 different federal databases (see text). Rates expressed per 1 million workers (12,13,16,17).

Main Article

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