The compensation for teaching and the risks of this line of work have been in the news quite a bit in the last few years. Parents may have recently developed more of an appreciation for what teachers provide for families.
People have also started to talk about the risks involved in working as a teacher. Often, the workplace incidents from the educational sector that make the news are tragic scenarios that may involve multiple people dying in an act of violence. These shocking stories might make you think that there is a lot of risk involved with teaching.
How likely are educators to suffer serious or fatal injuries at work?
Education is a relatively safe profession
Despite the high-profile cases that make the news, violence in schools is still quite rare. Overall, educators have much lower risks than other employees of dying at work. Roughly 0.4 educators for every 100,000 workers will die on the job. For workers across all industries, the job fatality rate is more than eight times as high: 3.4 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Injury rates are also lower for teachers, as they report 59 injuries requiring time away from work per 10,000 workers, and the injury rate across all industries is 107.1 per 10,000 workers. Of course, knowing that the risk is overall lower does not necessarily defuse the fear of violence in the workplace or protect someone from a fluke accident, like a slip-and-fall in the school hall that leaves them with a permanent brain injury.
Teachers who get hurt on the job can receive workers’ compensation benefits just like people in many other professions. If they die there, their family can claim compensation. Learning more about the basics of workers’ compensation benefits can help injured teachers or their surviving family members after a workplace accident or tragedy.