The Most Dangerous Job In The United States

With a fatality rate twice as high as the next most dangerous job

(By C.C. Laval — Johnston, Hank (1980). Rails to the Minarets: The Story of Sugar Pine Lumber Company. Trans-Anglo Books. ISBN 978–0870460203, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122147572)

If you ever take a walk through the woods, you might see dead branches hanging off the sides of trees. You might even spot an entire tree top that has become detached from the tree and is now at risk of falling. These are common sights in thick forests, especially old ones or ones that have recently been struck by strong storms. Dead branches and dangling limbs are a part of nature, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a different name for them — widowmakers.

These types of branches pose an imminent and persistent threat to loggers. Dead branches have been dubbed widowmakers because of their habit of falling unexpectedly and killing unsuspecting people below. The branches typically only fall twenty to thirty feet, but that is enough to cause a lethal blow. It only takes a split second for these limbs to reach the ground, making it nearly impossible to dodge them if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This is just one hazard present in America’s most dangerous job — logging.

While logging is no longer as widespread a business as it used to be, there are still pockets in the United States where logging is a large part of the local economy. Logging…