Why logging is America’s most lethal occupation but worth the risks

Consult any statistics for America’s most dangerous job and logging invariably ranks number one.

Not for nothing do lumberjacks have a reputation as brawny, fearless men who are prepared to work in all weathers and conditions.

“It takes a lot of nerve and confidence and if you’re going to sign up for it, you better be willing to eat it, sleep it and drink it because if you don’t take it serious it will take you,” says one lumberjack in Vincent Perazio’s documentary 'Gueules de Bois'.

Photo: screenshot from 'Gueules de Boi'”

But what exactly makes logging such as perilous occupation, beating pilots, roofers and fisherman to take the top spot?

“There is a mix of physical factors — heavy equipment and, of course, the massive trees,” Marissa Baker, a professor of occupational health at the University of Washington told The New York Times.

“Couple that with steep terrain and unforgiving weather and the rural aspect of the work, and it leads to great danger,” she added.

The US Bureau of Labor statistics reports that as many as 100 loggers out of every 100,000 lost their lives to this occupation in 2022, compared to almost 60 out of every 100,000 roofers.

According to Penn State researchers, in Appalachia and other regions where the trees are on mountainous terrain, the job is largely unmechanized, with workers felling trees with chainsaws, standing at their base.

No surprise then that the number one cause of death was what the researchers term “struck by” with the head being the most common part of the body to cause a fatality.

Photo: screenshot from “Gueuls de Bois”

But working with heavy machinery even in less rough terrain can also lead to some pretty hideous accidents.

Photo: screenshot from 'Gueules de Bois'

The New York Times tells the story of 39-year-old Mexican immigrant Eduardo Mendoza Arias, for example, who slipped and fell while inspecting the machinery.

His clothing became tangled in the rotating shaft of the equipment, and he was pulled into the machine and crushed, leaving a wife and three daughters.

But at an hourly rate 17% higher than the average for manual labor in the private sector, loggers feel the job is worth the risk, though numbers have dropped sharply since the 1990s with steep competition from other countries and lobbying from conservationists.

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