"America's Most Dangerous Jobs"

[TheSoccerMom]

Anyone else see the headline today? 

The "most dangerous jobs" in the U.S. were listed, and, once again, being a pilot was in the top three.  Seems like over the years, it has swapped back and forth between logging and fishing for Spots #1 and #2, and they still reign as the most likely professions to get you killed.

A quick recap:

1.  Fishing......  118.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers

2.  Logging......  92.9 fatalities per 100,000 workers

3.  Pilots/Flight Engineers....  66.9   "   "

4.  Structural Iron and Steel Workers...  55.6   "    "

5.  Garbage Collectors....  43.8  "    "

6.  Farmers and Ranchers...  41.1   "     "

7.  Powerline Repair Worrkers....   32.7    "   "

8.  Truck Drivers.....  29.1  "    "

9.  Miscellaneous Agricultural Workers....  23.2  "   "

10. Construction Laborers....  22.7   "   "


Perhaps surprisingly, police officers had a fatality rate of only 18.2 per 100K, and firefighters only 11.5.  I would have guessed they were riskier than some of the others above.


Soooooo........  Anyone going along to the Career Fair with me, to find a new JOB??  Hee.   

[Frank N. O.]

Soooooo........  Anyone going along to the Career Fair with me, to find a new JOB??  Hee.   

Uhm, nope, in fact I just might want to apply for your job 

Frank

[TheSoccerMom]

Good one, Frank!  C'mon over!!

I'll even make you a cool little spot to sleep on the floor, amongst the mouse poop and the dustballs.      

[tundra_flier]

Let me guess Soccer, you want more excitment in your life so you're going to apply for a Bering Sea crab boat position right?   

Phil

[fireflyr]

Let me guess Soccer, you want more excitment in your life so you're going to apply for a Bering Sea crab boat position right?   

Phil

NAW, she would never leave her "kids"-----

[TheSoccerMom]

HA HA, oh you made me laugh OUT LOUD on that one, Phil!!!

HA!  I'm sure I'd last about 30 seconds on a crab boat!!!   

And, well....  there is the question of the KIDS, like Jim said. 

Did I tell you guys about the day when Mikey's relief pilot was in WMC, and we were all chatting (okay, BS'ing)....  apparently he had heard the nickname "The Soccer Mom" a few times....  well, he was making polite conversation, and asked where I lived.  I told him, and he just as pleasantly said,
"So, how often do you get home?"  I laughed rather loudly and cackled, "Oh jeez, hardly ever!  I haven't really been home in months!"

Well, the look he gave me would have shriveled up Attila the Hun.  It was a mixture of shock, disgust and pure contempt...  his face went white and he STARED at me and said in a very COLD voice "Well, WHO is watching your KIDS?"

                                                       

It seems he thought I had a pack of REAL kids, and was a REAL Soccer Mom, and here I was, off in the desert, making jokes about never going HOME.  He could barely speak, even after I clarified that the "KIDS" were the guys he was looking at in the hangar there.

I'm not sure he ever forgave me.   

[Frank N. O.]

  that was a great one! But why should he forgive you? What did you do wrong, I didn't get that?

Frank

[AirtransRecon]

Miscellaneous Agricultural Workers

What exactly is a miscellaneous Ag Worker and how is he getting killed off so easily. This makes me thinkof a guy who's getting run down by the crop duster who's also working on his statistic.

Oh well, here's to choosing an exciting career at least. Can't imagine "office cooler rat" making the list.

KW

[TheSoccerMom]

Well, Frank, that probably wasn't the best word I could have used.   

What I meant was, even after the explanation, and a lot of laughter from the "kids", I still don't think he saw it as too humorous.  Like maybe I really WAS an AWOL mother.   

You never know!!     

[happylanding]

"So, how often do you get home?"  I laughed rather loudly and cackled, "Oh jeez, hardly ever!  I haven't really been home in months!"

Well, the look he gave me would have shriveled up Attila the Hun.  It was a mixture of shock, disgust and pure contempt...  his face went white and he STARED at me and said in a very COLD voice "Well, WHO is watching your KIDS?"

                                                       

It seems he thought I had a pack of REAL kids, and was a REAL Soccer Mom, and here I was, off in the desert, making jokes about never going HOME.  He could barely speak, even after I clarified that the "KIDS" were the guys he was looking at in the hangar there.

I'm not sure he ever forgave me.   

Hehe! that's gorgeous! I imagine the face he did. I can picture it! 

[tundra_flier]

Miscellaneous Agricultural Workers

What exactly is a miscellaneous Ag Worker and how is he getting killed off so easily. This makes me thinkof a guy who's getting run down by the crop duster who's also working on his statistic.

Oh well, here's to choosing an exciting career at least. Can't imagine "office cooler rat" making the list.

KW

Ag work can be very dangerous.  I remember riding out on the teeth of a drubie stacker as s teenager to help manuver the hay bales in while it cruised across field field at 30mph.  For those not familiar with a Drubie, think of a light weight front end loader built on a pickup frame, but instead of a bucket on the front it has a comb made of poined 2x8's.  Standard proceedure was for 2 of us to stand on the comb and help guide the bales in.  One slip and you could kiss a foot goodby.

Farm and ranch workers are always getting hurt.

Phil

[happylanding]

Ag work can be very dangerous.  I remember riding out on the teeth of a drubie stacker as s teenager to help manuver the hay bales in while it cruised across field field at 30mph.  For those not familiar with a Drubie, think of a light weight front end loader built on a pickup frame, but instead of a bucket on the front it has a comb made of poined 2x8's.  Standard proceedure was for 2 of us to stand on the comb and help guide the bales in.  One slip and you could kiss a foot goodby.

Farm and ranch workers are always getting hurt.

Phil

Well, I presume I often have a more bucolic view of the country and your image gives, on the contrary, a real picture of life there! I adore the country, but I just spend my vacations there  ! btw - if it can fall under "agricultural accidents" -, one year ago I had my face struck by the head of an horse, who was not williing to go out riding. Docs had to stick my mouth and lower face together again, since the hit cut my lower lip in half, with a cut that run along 2 cm of my face.  the docs did a fantastic job and I probably was quite lucky since there is no big scar and had he hit on the nose or eyes, maybe I would not have had only a scar.

[TheSoccerMom]

Very true, about farm work being dangerous!  When we were kids, it wasn't uncommon for classmates to get killed while working on the farm.  Haying took its toll.  Accidents around tractors and silos were a given.  One year there were two kids my age who were killed during the summer "vacation", and that is a lot, when you figure there were maybe 20 kids in the entire grade.      

I don't think the small farmers get the respect they should.        

And Wow, Happy, glad that Mister Ed wasn't any wilder with you.   

[Mike]

Thanks for telling the story in here mom!
It's a great one!!

Fishing HAS to be the most dangerous job hands down. I don't really trust the ocean even though I spend much time there....
Knowing lots of firefighters myself I think the most dangerous part about their job (as well as cops) is dealing with the medical
calls, needles, deseases, and lots of really messed up people....

With the pilot thing I never know if they don't throw in all the private GA accidents as well. I find it hard to imagine that many professional guys getting killed a year.....

I just posted this in a seperate thread, but check out this job:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMQgt5YiD0w 

[TheSoccerMom]

Fishing IS pretty amazing...  those harrowing stories out of the cold northern waters are pretty intense.  A friend of mine in Alaska works with a woman who has had three of her immediate family killed while working on fishing boats.  Man!

I don't know the exact methods they use for these aviation statistics, either, but I know it has always been a highly-ranked job on this list.  And the only reason I know that is from well-meaning family members who seem to think it's their duty to point it out to me!  I guess they know I can't read...?   

I'm with you 100% on the dangers of dealing with an unpredictable public...  like you said, structural firefighters, EMS and police all face some pretty crazy situations these days.  One of my sisters had wild stories from being an ER nurse -- especially with people who were high.  One guy kept screaming about the "black helicopters" in the room that were "shooting at them".  He was wildly out of control and was furious at her that she wasn't ducking under the tables to avoid the "gunfire".  WOW.

Makes our jobs even sweeter, eh??