America's most dangerous jobs

• Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 27.1
• Median wage: $22,560

Many sanitation workers are hurt working on busy city streets: They get hit by cars as impatient drivers try to squeeze past their stopped trucks. Other dangers include getting bad cuts from broken glass, stuck by dirty syringes or hit by objects falling off the trucks.

There are hidden perils as well. Experienced workers know to step aside from the back of the truck once they toss garbage bags in and activate the compactor. Those opaque plastic garbage bags sometimes contain cans of volatile chemicals or pesticides that can burst under pressure and blow back on workers.

Safety has improved steadily for sanitation workers in Austin, Texas, according to Greg Powell, business manager for Local 1624 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees. About 20% to 30% of the truck fleet there is fully automated, he said. All heavy lifting is done by the truck, with workers operating controls from inside the cab.

Other trucks are equipped with "one armed bandits," said Powell, which lift and dump the loads.

The other major improvement is safety awareness and training. In Austin, sanitation workers accrue points for careless or risky actions. Go over the point limit and they can be penalized, and even lose their jobs.

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