I think it’s in comparison. How many red shirts are killed, vs how many blue shirts? According to startrek.com, twice as many red shirts were killed in TOS than either blue or yellow; in fact, 50% more red shirts were killed off (24) than red and yellow combined (16).
Some Reddit person tried to debunk this by doing a pie chart that showed red barely beating yellow, but they combined TOS and TNG numbers, and the shirt colors swapped between the two series.
Security in the Star Trek universe is a more dangerous posting than the others.
I think it’s in comparison. How many red shirts are killed, vs how many blue shirts? According to startrek.com, twice as many red shirts were killed in TOS than either blue or yellow; in fact, 50% more red shirts were killed off (24) than red and yellow combined (16).
Some Reddit person tried to debunk this by doing a pie chart that showed red barely beating yellow, but they combined TOS and TNG numbers, and the shirt colors swapped between the two series.
Security in the Star Trek universe is a more dangerous posting than the others.
Red also covers Engineering, the kind of people who will be standing next to a power coupling when it explodes.
The real enemy in deep space is the ship itself.