Dirty Dangerous Jobs
John Venlet talks about Coal Mining, and dangerous gigs. While I’ve never been in a mine outside of the one at the Museum of Science and Industry, I spent more than my share of time around coal. It’s not fun stuff to deal with, even above ground.
His post, though, links to an article in the Business Insider regarding the 15 most dangerous jobs in America, and i find that I have done two of them. I was a roofer in 1978 for most of a summer, and I did iron in 1979-1980. The #4 and #10 most dangerous gigs.
Roofing never scared me, because I had not at that time fallen. Heights didn’t concern me because I was young and lithe and flexible, and could balance on anything. I didn’t see any danger but I didn’t see anyone get hurt, either. We had a good boss and good workers and were very safety conscious for 1978. Iron was another story, I saw lots of accidents and remember several times standing shivering in fear on a beam as someone who had been doing the same job I did got injured or killed, someone I considered an old hand while I was young and inexperienced. There are good reasons why a lot of steelworkers used to be alcoholics, and i was on small buildings, eight, ten stories. The guys who slung high iron, real iron, were a breed apart, and still, for the most part, are. A friend left a job where he climbed a ladder each day to the cab of a crane 90 feet above the tallest point of a skyscraper; he made enough money in five years to retire comfortably though modestly, and I don’t blame him that his home is a single story bungalow.
A lot of what I do is to prevent people from having to do dangerous jobs, but some can only be automated so far. Some dangerous jobs will always have to be done.
Hmm, being a cowboy is only number 5? Wow. My job is sweet! (insert emoticon of eyes rolling)
looks like it can be summed up as four jobs:
1. People who do a lot of driving.
2. People who work with heavy equipment and heavy materials.
3. People who work with things that are on fire or electrified.
4. People who work in a location where they might fall to their death (includes some powerline guys).
Never did any of those for a living; been on the edges of several over the years. And even then you can get hurt real quick.
Worst work-related injury I’ve ever had? Burns, while smithing. First time in my life I ever wanted pain meds.
I have done 9 of the 15 and still do 2. I started logging with an older relative for a sawmill when I was 14. Now at 45 and still doing some logging, I wonder how the hell I managed to not kill myself. For $2.50 an hour.
It’s funny, now that I am older and presumably wiser I can look back and see just how freaking dangerous all those jobs I did really were. Those close calls seem a whole different now.
An uncle once told me “God has a special spot in his heart for drunks and idiots. So you should be covered either way.”
Roger
Roofed houses for a summer for $4 per hour. I was glad to have the work.
My relatives still mine coal near Carlslyle, Ill. They die young.
Have worked eight of those, plus commercial painter [the worst according to actuaries] and I will prolly die from Marlboro’s and Maker’s Mark.
It was a hell of a ride.