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A couple weeks back I posted on one terribly humiliating job I had back in college and asked you to comment on your worst job ever. Thanks for all the wonderful remarks… I definitely feel humbled now (read: glad I’m not the only loser out there).
Today, I’m looking at jobs again: the country’s most dangerous jobs. According to a recent article in Forbes: “For the second straight year, fishing and related activities topped the fatality list, with 142 deaths per 100,000 workers. Slips and overboard falls continue to wreak havoc on some commercial fishing boats off the coasts of Alaska, Massachusetts and other seaboard areas.” After fishermen, we have pilots and aircraft engineers, with a rate of 88 per 100,000 employees.
As you might expect, 92% of all work-related deaths happened to men, not women. The article also revealed some good news, rather cheerily (!): homicides at the workplace were down to 516, the lowest total in 12 years (compare that to 585 murders in 1999). Whooohoooo!
Agricultural workers busy in the fields accounted for 158 work-related deaths last year. Hit hardest in that sector were Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota and Montana, earning them a proud share of the dubious title “The 4 most dangerous states for workers.”
For me, the only dangerous encounter I’ve ever had at my desk here in LA or NYC was when I accidentally spilled the insides of a dying toner cartridge all over the CFO’s brand new suit. Wasn’t pretty I tell you.
Any danger involved with your job? My new feature—Office Rat-A-Tat—starts now!
Comments (20)
Comment
Where would school bus driving rank? I think if I hadn’t quit, the stress of driving in a big city would have gotten to me. One day I looked in the mirror over my head and saw the tops of all those little heads sticking up between the backs of the seats and I thought “Oh My Gawd, I’m responsible for all these lifes, I might have a future president of the U.S. on the bus.” You have to deal with traffic and goofball drivers, icy roads, construction sites, unruly kids, fights (some of them racial), detours, etc.
I loved driving that “big rig” on the open road but constantly stopping to pick up kids was annoying(ha-ha), but then that’s the purpose of the school bus.
I once prevented a 6 year old from being crushed under the wheels of a bus. When Christopher was 19 he raped, and tried to kill a girl. So much for my “future president of U.S.” idea. He got life without parole.
posted by Tdave on 8-20-2007 at 3:40 am
I work in Iraq.
posted by George on 8-20-2007 at 4:39 am
I once worked for a counselling company that had court appointed clients. I was the one who had to chase up debt on the wife beaters and demand payment now! It was ridiculously frightening for a 19yr old girl.
posted by Ari on 8-20-2007 at 6:31 am
College professor. I didn’t think it was a dangerous profession when I signed up, but things like VA Tech make me wonder…
posted by lleachie on 8-20-2007 at 6:35 am
I would say my job is somewhat dangerous, I’m a mate on an oil tanker, and I know on a day to day basis, there is a lot of stuff going on around me that pretty much could get me ripped up, exploded, broken, maimed or worse, killed. Oh and did I mentione that I am only 5 feet tall and a female…
posted by Gussie on 8-20-2007 at 7:30 am
I’m an engineer over a plant area that mixes and casts the explosives for rocket motors.
I feel perfectly safe, but sometimes I tell my mom things like, “When I go in some buildings, I have to leave my badge in a different building so they know I was in there in case the bits of me aren’t big enough to identify my body.” There’s nothing she loves to hear more about her only daughter.
posted by cousin on 8-20-2007 at 7:58 am
I make glass beads and work at a small propane/O2 torch…I am constantly getting hit by small amts of flying red-hot glass (that sticks to my arms) and I also cut myself pretty regularly (some gashes, others just small cuts)…plus - I have propane and O2 in/outside my home, which if there is a leak or problem, could blow the place sky-high…thankfully I take precautions to keep myself alive…
posted by donner on 8-20-2007 at 8:09 am
I replace windshields, tho not very high on the danger scale, working with broken glass for a living is pretty challenging. you will bleed more than once a day
posted by lordstoli on 8-20-2007 at 8:39 am
I am only in danger of falling asleep.
posted by Tru on 8-20-2007 at 8:42 am
I used to live in North Dakota (no I didn’t farm)and I would say farming is rather dangerous. Every year you would hear about at least one kid who would get his arm torn off in a thresher or something like that. Plus, there aren’t a lot of people up there so if you get injured it could be a long time before some one finds you.
posted by Sally on 8-20-2007 at 9:17 am
One of my earliest jobs was working as a rig hand on an oil production rig. Not drilling mind you, but workovers and recompletions of existing wells. The second time I nearly got killed, I left… it’s the only time I’ve ever walked off a job.
I feel much safer in an office now…
posted by Jason! on 8-20-2007 at 9:30 am
I used to work for a plastics company in the R&D department. I did destructive testing. I melted plastic, shot lasers at plastic, shot darts at plastic, ripped plastic, etc. It was actually kind of fun, but I didn’t really have an appreciation of how dangerous it was. I was 18 at the time and working with dangerous chemicals (toluene, benzene, xylene, etc.), heated hydraulic presses that could easily crush any body part that got caught in it, and the plant caught on fire fairly regularly. This is especially worth mentioning because one day, I was working away when I heard a faint buzzing sound. I walked around the room to see if I could figure out where it was coming from. I eventually isolated it to high up in a corner of the room that shared a wall with the hallway. I couldn’t tell what exactly the sound was coming from, though, so I called my supervisor over to see if he could tell. He stood there for a bit and proclaimed it was coming from the fluorescent lights overhead. I accepted this and went back to work. About ten minutes later, I went through the climate control doors and into the hallway where I discovered that the sound was actually the fire alarm. It had been going off for about 15 minutes and the entire building had been evacuated.
Except us, of course.
In another incident, a guy I worked with was sitting in a chair when someone dropped a tank of liquid nitrogen near him. A few drops of the liquid landed on his arm and across his crotch. And yes, it did soak through his pants and got on Mr. Happy. He was ordered to go to the doctor immediately. The doctor asked where he was splashed, and Ken pointed to his arm. The doc grabbed a scalpel and dug the dead tissue out of his arm, just like that. The doctor then asked if there was anywhere else. Ken said “Nope. Noplace at all.”
posted by Anthony on 8-20-2007 at 12:05 pm
Does your job count as dangerous if it is you who is doing the killing? I am a stay at home mom and although I love my kids like crazy sometimes I want to put a gun to my head and just pull the trigger if I have to hear one more argument about who is the better ninja :)
posted by Shari on 8-20-2007 at 12:10 pm
Shari - they say most accidents happen in the home, but I don’t think that’s what they meant… ;)
(And no, I don’t know who “they” are. But they do have a lot of nifty sayings!)
posted by Anita on 8-20-2007 at 3:22 pm
I think I’m the only accountant ever to be injured on the job. I fell over my audit bag (a large briefcase) the day before the tax deadline and broke my arm. I’ll never forget lying on the floor (with a skirt on, no less) seeing feet all around and everyone asking me if I was ok, and being unable to get up. I cried in front of everyone (every woman knows that’s a CLM - Career Limiting Move). It was so embarrassing. I’m no longer in the field.
posted by cm on 8-20-2007 at 7:57 pm
I work in a pharmacy, which may not sound so bad, unless you count the crazy people who will hold you up at gunpoint for Oxycontin. We got robbed in March or April. Luckily I wasn’t there because my shift had ended.
When I worked at the public library we had a bomb threat once. That was an adventure too.
posted by Janel on 8-20-2007 at 11:47 pm
It IS really unsafe to work in Alaska. As an employed Alaskan resident, I can promise you that. I mean, I got a paper cut handing someone a receipt at Carr’s the other day–AND I have to lift 12 packs of soda sometimes!
posted by Courtney on 8-21-2007 at 4:37 pm
I am a high school teacher - when I was in school, you had a fire drill and a tornado drill once or twice and that was it. Now, we have 10+ fire and “civil defense” drills per year and “codes” - we have to prepare for someone coming in and trying to do harm or worse a student starts trying to do harm. The stress alone of dealing with many of our students is enough.
posted by Dianna on 8-21-2007 at 7:24 pm
Danger is common for pyrotechnicians (fireworks guys). We’re always tossing around shells, cutting fuses and inserting highly volatile electric matches, and generally playing with explosives. The only downside is that we don’t get hazard pay for it.
Working in live sound has been interesting too, as there have been a few times I’ve had to re-wire sound racks live - with 20,000 watts awaiting me if I let any wires touch. I hear that’s bad for you, although I’d sooner take the 20kW than a 6″ fireworks shell blowing up in my face.
posted by sfs on 8-30-2007 at 7:49 pm
Wow, I think Ari wins the award. Scary.
posted by Jena on 10-22-2007 at 2:28 pm