Methodology and sources
Three kinds of content, kept apart: BLS figures (sourced, dated), one federal legal schedule (sourced), and editorial coverage checklists (no figures).
Data files
| File | Holds | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
trades.json | 37 trades: NAICS code, 2024 recordable, DART and days-away rates, hours worked, fatal-injury count, coverage checklist | BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, Table 1 (2024), incidence rates per 100 full-time workers; BLS SOII Table 3 (2024), hours worked by detailed industry; BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, Table A-1 (2024) | 2026-10-23 |
coverages.json | 12 policy types: what each covers, legal status, who usually requires it | editorial | 2026-10-23 |
fmcsa.json | 49 CFR 387.9 Schedule of Limits, four rows | 49 CFR 387.9 — Schedule of limits, public liability (eCFR) | 2026-10-23 |
Computations
- Rank and tier: trades sorted by 2024 recordable rate; "high" is at or above the 75th percentile of the 37 trades here, "low" at or below the 25th, "mid" between. Tiers are relative to this site's list, not to all industries.
- vs private industry: (trade rate − 2.3) ÷ 2.3, as a percentage.
- Severity share: DART rate ÷ recordable rate.
- Approximate fatal rate: CFOI fatal count ÷ (SOII hours worked × 1,000) × 200,000,000, i.e. per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers. BLS publishes its own fatal rates using different hours data; ours are labelled approximate everywhere they appear.
- FTE: SOII hours × 1,000 ÷ 2,000.
- Checklist tool: removes workers' compensation when "no employees" is set, commercial auto when no vehicles and no interstate CMV, liquor liability when alcohol is not served; adds the 387.9 row when interstate for-hire CMV is set.
What is editorial
Which policy types appear on a trade's checklist, the one-line reason for each, and the "what to ask a broker" lists are the site's own judgement, written from the standard forms and the common certificate requirements in each trade. They contain no premiums, limits or thresholds. Where a sentence says a law requires something, it is either 49 CFR 387.9 (cited) or the general statement that workers' compensation is a state requirement once a business has employees, which is true in nearly every state but whose thresholds vary and are not printed.
Excluded
- Mobile food services (72233), caterers (72232) and beauty salons (812112): no 2024 SOII rate published at that level.
- State workers' compensation thresholds and contractor licence bond amounts: no citable official source fetched yet; stated generically.
- Premium figures: none published; rates are filed per state and insurer.
- State-level injury rates (published by individual state agencies in different formats) — a later addition.
- Passenger-carrier rows of 49 CFR 387.9.
Refresh
BLS releases SOII and CFOI annually (the 2024 data was released in late 2025 and early 2026); both files are re-collected on release. 49 CFR 387.9 is checked yearly and on any rulemaking.
Data version 2026-10-23.