LOS ANGELES—The Huffington Post has a slideshow on its site that lists the 10 Most Fatal Industries. (Click here and scroll down the page to find it.) Not a terribly pleasant subject, to be sure, but it got us thinking about our own industry, which is often cited as being innately dangerous. Is it really as unsafe as other industries demonstrably are? At any rate, it's not on the list.
The top 10 most fatal industries (accounting for 89 percent of all work related deaths in 2009) are:
1. Construction
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 816
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 19 percent
2. Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 551
Percentage share of all work-related deaths in 2009: 13 percent
3. Transportation and Warehousing
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 579
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 13 percent
4. Government
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 450
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 10 percent
5. Professional And Business Services
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 394
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 9 percent
6. Manufacturing
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 304
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 7 percent
7. Retail Trade
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 291
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 7 percent
8. Leisure And Hospitality
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 216
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 5 percent
9. Wholesale Trade
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 186
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 4 percent
10. Mining
Total number of workers killed in 2009: 101
Percentage of all work-related deaths in 2009: 2 percent
So how does the adult entertainment industry compare with those numbers from 2009? iafd.com has a page devoted entirely to performers who have died. The page is broken into sections listing cause of death, such as Accidental, Suicide, Murder, OD, Unknown, Medical, etc. The page lists a total of 23 industry professionals who died in 2009 for one reason or another, including natural causes at an older age. Three were murdered, though, and one died from HIV/AIDS. There were also two suicides but no reported deaths from drug overdoses. Though it would be remiss to state that none of the more troubling deaths was completely unrelated to the industry, neither can a direct connection be made with any of them.
No one would be foolish enough to suggest that working in adult entertainment is risk free, but compared with some other industries one's chances of dying seem to be of magnitudes less. Why, then, are so many people trying to paint porn as such a hazard to life and limb? Could it be the ... sex?
