Yes, fracking is a dangerous job. Duh.

I wish I had time to respond to all the misleading “information” put out by the fracking Joe Camels. But I don’t have that kind of time. I do feel compelled to respond to this question posed on Twitter last week:

Is #fracking dangerous? The injury rate for the oil and gas industry is 60% lower than the national average.

LINK to tweet with misleading graphic.

Update: The chart uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is compiled by self-reported data from industry. Injuries are easily covered up by sending workers to industry doctors and telling them to STFU (this practice was self-reported to me by workers). It’s not so easy to cover up dead bodies.

So what the graph really means, if industry can be trusted to report injuries accurately, is that workers are less likely to break a leg on a fracking job than to die by fire.

OSHA chief lauds progress in drilling industry
Mike Soraghan, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, December 3, 2014

But the death rate remains “far higher than the national average,” Michaels noted at the OSHA Oil & Gas Safety and Health Conference. He added in a session afterward that the industry’s progress is best measured by fatality statistics rather than injury data because “there’s a culture” of not reporting injuries. He stressed that much work remains.

“This is one of the most dangerous industries in the country,” said Michaels, whose official title is assistant secretary of Labor for occupational safety and health. “The fatality rate is still way too high.”

At least 16 drilling industry workers died in fires, explosions last year
Mike Soraghan, E&E reporter
Published: Monday, January 12, 2015

The only “industry” to have more fire and explosion fatalities than oil and gas in 2013 was firefighting…

Yeah, fracking is dangerous.

Sigh.