U.S. salary & occupation data · BLS sourcedSer. 2026
Career GuideSOC 51-4121
Is Welding Dangerous? BLS Hazards and PPE
BLS cites fumes, extreme heat, and arc light as welding hazards and expects PPE and procedures. Compare hazard framing to lineman fatality data.
Last updated 2026-10-29 · Wage data: May 2025 (BLS)
Key figures
Is welding dangerous? BLS’s Occupational Outlook Handbook states that welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers risk on-the-job injury, naming exposure to fumes, very hot materials, and intense arc light as specific hazards. The agency says workers reduce injuries by following safety procedures and using helmets, hearing protection, and heat-resistant gloves. BLS also notes work at height, heavy lifting, and awkward positions on some jobs. Fatal occupational rates for power-line workers are covered separately on is being a lineman dangerous.
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers: Annual Wage by Percentile (May 2025, U.S. national)
Enter your own pay as a welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, either annual or hourly, and this tool locates it against the BLS wage percentiles above.
If you moved industries
These are published industry medians for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, not a personalized prediction for your salary.
BLS publishes a median hourly wage of $25.84 for this occupation; that real figure is used as the hourly reference. Your own hourly-to-annual conversion assumes 2,080 hours/year (BLS full-time convention).
On the welders OOH page, BLS’s “Injuries and Illnesses” section states plainly that these workers risk injury, citing fumes, very hot materials, and arc light. Mitigations are procedural: safety protocols plus personal protective equipment (welding helmets, hearing protection, heat-resistant gloves).
OSHA also requires electrical safety training for welders, per BLS’s summary on the same page. Duties and shift patterns are expanded on what a welder does.
Readers weighing fatal injury rates should use occupation-specific CFOI publications. BLS’s detailed year-by-year fatal rates for electrical power-line installers appear on this site’s lineman danger guide; BLS does not publish an identical multi-year fatal-rate series for welders on the same OOH page.
Frequently asked questions
Is welding dangerous according to BLS?
Yes — BLS names fumes, extreme heat, and arc light as job hazards and expects PPE and safety procedures. It does not rank welding against all occupations on one fatality-rate chart on that page.
Is welding more dangerous than being a lineman?
Different data. This page summarizes BLS non-fatal hazard language for welding. Lineman fatal work injury rates (2011–2015 CFOI series) are on is being a lineman dangerous. Do not compare without matching data sources and years.
WageLark Editorial, “Is Welding Dangerous? BLS Hazards and PPE,” WageLark, published October 29, 2026, https://wagelark.com/is-welding-dangerous/.
This page reports government wage statistics for informational purposes. It is not personalized career, financial, or legal advice, and does not endorse or recommend any specific employer, school, or training program.
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