Dangerous Jobs

Anyone here have a dangerous job? Our newspaper, "The Press of Atlantic City", covers a lot of topics related to the ocean, as you might figure. Recently they have been running a series on Commercial Fishing. It is the #1 most deadliest occupation in the USA. In 2008, there were 128 deaths per 100,000 employees. 2nd was Logging; 71 deaths. This year off the Jersey coast there have been 8 deaths; two separate incidences; 6 in one and 2 in the other. In addition to deaths there are numerous injuries.

When I was a lineman/splicer for NY Telephone we had a death in our group. A lineman was doing something he shouldn't have - standing on the cab of the truck to fix a cable. The cable was hanging to low over the road, a passing truck hit the cable which in turn hit the lineman and flung him onto the road. He didn't survive the head injuries. We had numerous close calls with electricity also.

I drove a taxi in Manhattan for a few years (and worked in funeral livery for over 20). Now it won't show up on any risk study, but driving a cab in New York certainly feels like the most dangerous job in the world.

Isn't it the rule that telephone and CATV wires are to be strung below the electrical cable on a pole? And that the telephone lineman can't repair a phone cable after a storm until the electrical cable is fixed?

My BIL worked as a convenience store clerk during the midnight to eight shift. You have to be a little concerned.

Well I have been married for 23 years -- that is pretty dangerous.

Also -- dealing with a Boar of Directors can be crazy at times.

What about NASCAR drivers. I mean there may be a death or so every couple of years on the big boy circuit but the rate has to be crazy -- especially if you just count the drivers not the pit crew, et al

I don't have any stats, but I imagine the fatality rate is fairly high for what I do, a truck driver. Being out on busy highways for 12 hours a day can't be that safe. Most jobs are in a controlled environment when accidents happen, but driving a truck is doing a job with thousands of idiots who probably shouldn't have a license surrounding you all day.

There are many lists on the internet. The one below is pretty representative of most of them:

1. Fishers and related workers
2. Loggers
3. Pilots and Flight Engineers
4. Iron and Steel Workers
5. Farmers and Ranchers
6. Roofers
7. Electrical Power Line Installers and Repairers
8. Drivers (truckers and salespeople)
9. Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
10. Police Sheriffs and Patrol Officers

As a young college student, I worked at 7-11 and WaWa convenience stores -- all shifts. 11am-7pm (my favorite; could sleep in and stay up all night!) and 3pm-11pm (can sleep even later, and still not miss the night life!); but also 7am-3pm (those were kinda rough); but 11pm-7am were a lot of fun! Getting everyone coming out of the bars for a late-night snack (and condoms and Vivarin)

I think my own most dangerous job was when I worked in a sandwich shop while in college.

I was smoking a lot of those funny cigarettes then and I'd slice into a finger or two weekly (while slicing the meats for the sandwiches). Add to that, the oil and vinegar getting into the cuts ~ it was PAINFUL.

Back then my only addiction was to caffeine, so I never sliced myself on the meat slicer. These days I might, tho. lol

I got a $50 gift card to Sears and spent most of it on one Henckels Santoku knife. I'd never spend $30+ of my own money on 1 knife, but shit, I needed it. Somehow I cut myself on its sharp blade before even using it, tho! lol

I thought about taking this list to work tomorrow and showing my boss that I'm in the top ten of most dangerous jobs, and then asking for a raise. But I think he would either laugh or fire me on the spot.

Huh?? Seems like the easiest job in the world any more, with the Robo-Cans! Don't even have to leave the truck (unless you come upon some retarded resident with their can backwards)

But thanks for reminding me tomorrow is trash day!

Not here. The guy has to get out of the truck and get the garbage out of the can.

I thought coal miners would've made that list.

I had to meet with a serial criminal in a tiny interview cell in a state prison. We were done after an hour, but when I rang the guard to get us, he decided to take a break, and forgot about us. My client was getting increasingly agitated, but I never felt that I was in danger.

In college I worked construction, and was present when our company owner was buried alivewhen a ditch, in which he was working caved in. It took us about 10 minutes to dig him out, and he just calmly dusted himself off and went back to work as if nothing had happened.

By the way, like just about everybody else from NE PA, I am a descendant of coal and anthracite miners, who probably had the most dangerous, non-combat jobs in the country's history. If they escaped the cave-ins, they had black lung to deal with. My grandfather would usually see the daylight in winter only on Sundays as he entered the mines six days a week before dawn, and left after dusk. On one occasion a rail cart of coal crushed his finger and he was sent to the company doctor, who amputated most of the finger swiftly and without telling him what he was doing. He had to report to work the next day.

Yes TB, true. The National Electric Safety Code dictates the proper spacing of pole attachments. Electric is the highest attachment on the pole followed by the communication space where the cable TV and telephone cables are attached. The minimum pole separation of electric from communication is 40” with mid-span sag being 30” separation. Telephone and CATV linemen should not come in contact with electric under normal circumstances and if all safety precautions are taken. However, human error and mother nature can compromise the safety precautions.

Also, much of electric and communication facilities installed in the past 30 years is placed underground. In most cases electric and communication occupy the same trench, but in reverse order of aerial plant. Electric is the deepest in the trench, but only separated from communications by 12 inches. It is in the buried environment where the most danger lies for communication workers for the obvious reason being – you can’t see it. We had two close calls in the buried environment. One splicer (a friend of mine) was doing repair work on a buried cable that had been damaged by a backhoe. The electric was also damaged and was repaired first. My friend got the OK from the electric company to begin repairs. He was preparing the work area when the power was turned back on. The electric repairs were faulty and a 13,000-volt primary cable “exploded” in the ground where he was working. Luckily he was turned away from the blast or he would have been blinded. He suffered minor burns and bruises, and nighmares.

In the interest of boredom I won’t expound any further. I don’t think I came close to any harmful conditions, but I did have my share of banged up fingers and cuts.

Too late, MC .

My in-laws are from the same part of NE PA. I read a book called the "Breaker Boys" (I think) about child labor in the coal mines. Quite harrowing. These boys were in their early teens and their job was to sit over the conveyor belt and remove rocks from the coal before it went into the "Breaker". Finger losses were common. The only way to be excused from work was to lose a leg. Arm losses were OK.

But you got that far

When i was younger i worked in a supermarket and got beat up one day trying to stop 3 shoplifters who were stealing all the bacon

Why isn't shopwork on these lists?

The breaker boys are a big part of our legacy. My grandfather was 8 when he started as a breaker boy. My father has a photo of my grandfather when he was 10 in 1898 with his older brother, father and mother, standing in the doorway of the rundown shack that served as their home. While the rest of the family appeared clean in the photo, my grandfather was filthy. My father explained this was because his father and brother walked home more quickly after work, and had time to clean up before the picture was snapped by the traveling photographer.

My grandmother's father was arrested for his association with the Molly Maguires. He died shortly after her birth. She had an older brother Thomas, who was blind as a result of a blasting accident in the mines before she was born. It was common. Another horror of the mining experience was that the workers were forced to live in dwellings, shop in stores, and treat with doctors, all owned by the coal companies. This led to some violent confrontations.