Most dangerous job

POSTED BY: SignyM
UPDATED: Sunday, January 15, 2006 21:41
VIEWED: 5795
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SIGNYM

Friday, January 6, 2006 5:07 AM

It occurred to me that we know very little about each other and we tend to assume reactions based on what we THINK abut each other: West Coast Liberal, Middle American Conservative, Mancurian Socialist, Red State... whatever. We assume lack of education. Or lack of hard work. Or lack of family. You don't have to reveal identifying info but I'm wondering- what was the most dangerous job you ever had? What was the hardest?

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Please don't think they give a shit.

DREAMTROVE

Friday, January 6, 2006 7:30 AM

Most of my jobs have been teaching jobs, which isn't dangerous until the Nazis try to kill you, which did happen, but for blatant in-harms-way-is-in-the-job-description I have to go with Security Guard. But I'm sure I will be bested here, as I am just as sure this is going to turn into a macho pissing contest. I'm not much with the macho, so I'm prepared to do the french thing.

SEVENPERCENT

Friday, January 6, 2006 8:12 AM

Before I became a teacher I did some rough work, but I'm not exactly sure if it falls into the dangerous category. One of my first jobs was with a subcontractor; I did acetylene torch work involving cutting welded metal (I suppose the tanks could've blown, but as far as danger, mostly that job just hurt like hell when bits of molten metal hit the arms). Did some roofing for a couple summers, that gets pretty tricky toting shingles or tiles up ladders (the weirdest was solar stuff - that can be awkward, with the domes or large panels). I've worked with a lot of heavy equipment, like forklifts, but those aren't dangerous to be in so much as to be around with careless folks behind the sticks.

As a teacher though, I don't really consider it dangerous work, although the thought of some kids going Columbine does make me nervous on occasion. All in all, career-wise, I'd say I lucked into more hard than dangerous.

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He looked bigger when I couldn't see him.

Anyone wanting to continue a discussion off board is welcome to email me - check bio for details.

SEVENPERCENT

Friday, January 6, 2006 8:18 AM

Oh, and DT - Haven't seen you post in a few days (which is noticeable when you are as prolific a poster as you tend to be)- Vacation? You've missed some...interesting...posts. Nice to see you back though -

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He looked bigger when I couldn't see him.

Anyone wanting to continue a discussion off board is welcome to email me - check bio for details.

DREAMTROVE

Friday, January 6, 2006 8:29 AM

Vacationing was me, yes. Back now.
Oh, here's one, before there was the columbine shooting, and like weeks before, there was a shooting in Bethel Alaska, where a kid came in with a shotgun, shot and killed two students and the principal. He intended to shoot a great many more, but someone apprehended him, which is what the principal was trying to do when he got his head blown off. Anyway, my sister was teaching in the school when it happened. She realized what was happening and took her kids and invented an instant field trip which involved everyone making a mad dash for the back door. So yeah, teaching can be dangerous.

SIGNYM

Friday, January 6, 2006 12:56 PM

Hey, as far as I'm concerned, a great many teachers deserve hazard pay! And DT- seems to me you get pretty involved in life. Just being a farmer is risky, in the financial sense. And Seven- BTW, roofing is one of the more hazardous jobs. People fall off all the time and break their heads and necks. Glad to see that didn't happen here- your intellect would be missed.

So, let's see- I've worked in a grocery store, as a telemarketer (Yeah, I was one of those annoying people, but jobs were scarce and any job would do), prepping labs for a University Chem Department, pharma R&D, University biomedical research (that was b4 AIDS o'wise I'd have to count that as my most dangerous job), in a consulting lab and for a govt agency.

It was the consulting lab that was dangerous. It was a cheap lab, not exactly overly concerned with worker safety. (One of my colleagues has several rods inserted both elbows and is in constant pain from a job gone wrong there.) I worked in stack testing, and got to "visit" refineries, glass plants, power plants, print lines, etc. Four jobs in particular stand out in my memory as being dangerous:

Testing off a 1 foot wide catwalk literally at the very top of a refinery vacuum distillation tower. It shrieked like a banshee and shook like it was palsied.

Testing on a 200 ft stack of a coke calciner, with drops of hot, acid coke slurry falling on us all day. We were about to go back for a repeat test a few weeks later when our supervisor got a phone call. He blanched and told us the test was cancelled because the tower had exploded and collapsed. (Long story)

Testing literally on top of a fume incinerator right under a metal roof of a printing plant in the San Joaquin Valley in August. I was voted to work on top of the incinerator because everyone else' Vibram boot soles melted. We had to set the test equipment up on supports on flanges because if we set it right on the incinerator box it would char. All I had to do was WATCH the damn stuff for 30 minutes and make a few adjustments if necessary and believe me, it was the toughest work I have ever done.

Testing at a phenolic resin print plant in Portland. It threw out so much formaldehyde that we couldn't get within 20 feet of the stack w/o an independent air supply.

But the hardest job I've ever had is just being a parent.

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Please don't think they give a shit.

DREAMTROVE

Friday, January 6, 2006 3:55 PM

I thought the focus here was life-hazard. Farming is only hazardous if you use those big machines like threshers and the like. A few people have lot limbs around here. But farming by hand the biggest threat is bug bites, and the occassional tomato vine that wraps around your leg and oh no it's got me it't

Attack of the killer tomatoes!

HARDWARE

Friday, January 6, 2006 4:09 PM

Without a doubt the most dangerous job I have ever had is being a nurse's aide in a psychiatric hospital. Picture hand to hand combat with crazy people on a daily basis. And I worked with people who were not guilty by reason of insanity for murder. I don't care how you characterize it, modern mental health care is occasionally shockingly violent. In fact, the years I worked there the North Carolina Department of Human Services had a higher on the job injury rate than the Department of Public Safety.

I finally got out of it when I tore my patellar tendon doing a phsyical intervention (i.e. stopping a NGRI murderer from pounding an elderly doctor to paste) The man we restrained had previously required 7 big men to restrain and we had 2.

I got into computer support. Which is frustrating to the point it is probably shortening my life, but it pays much better and at least my corpse will have less scars.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

SIGNYM

Friday, January 6, 2006 5:27 PM

DT- Anyone who owns a small farm has more heuvos that I can imagine.

Hardware- Wow. You should have been getting combat pay.

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Please don't think they give a shit.

DREAMTROVE

Friday, January 6, 2006 6:20 PM

I suppose that makes sense. When I was just out of college I had a job for two months as an aid for people with downes syndrome and various other problems. I quite when I found out that three of my coworkers and nine of the residents had been infected with hepatitis by being bitten. But the only job injuries I ever got were teaching, and completely incidental, not job related.

The whole farming thing is getting blown all out of portion. I don't know how familiar people are with tomato plants but they stand about 4 feet tall and yield 5 or so tomatoes a piece. This means by the time you have a hundred square feet or so allocated, you are up to your ass in tomatoes year round. If I filled the acre of land on this property completely with tomatoes, I'd be supplying a pizza chain with tomato sauce. It's not like fields of corn, no one here has fields of tomatoes. It's just a hobby.

There are a lot of small farmers around here making a go of it. It used to be all that way before politicians interfered. I can't help but think that this nationwide food distribution thing is going to lead to some nasty disasters down the road, not to mention costing a pointless amount in trucking fees. Food should stay local.

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