Dangerous Jobs

[TreeGuy]

In this photo I am taking down one of the largest trees in my career. It was 120' tall, 3' wide at the butt. So yes, a very dangerous job. I would get a little bit anxious the night before but once on the job the adrenalin takes over. I always worked carefully and methodically. I was lucky to have a good mentor early on in my career that taught me to work safe.

I worked almost 20 years in the tree industry without injury to myself or others. I've climbed a lot of trees. And in a matter of seconds my career in the trees ended this past July. And one might think I fell out of a tree, in fact that was even a rumour that went around. Nope, I didn't fall out of a tree. I fell off an FN orchard ladder while trimming a hedge. I broke my neck, shattered my C5 vertebrae and damaged my spinal cord. If you're gonna do it, do it right I say! LOL I'm thankful and lucky I didn't end up in a wheelchair.

Guys doing this kind of work don't get paid nearly enough. Less than $30/hour, often much less. And the wear and tear on the body is hard. But I sure loved doing it! In that picture when I was at the 100' mark I ripped 20' top off of it, nothing beats that adrenalin high.

[alanjh595]

You have my respect. I couldn't do it.

[Queen K]

Sure do. So many things can happen in Healthcare it isn't funny. I'll elaborate later.

[Queen K]

Most definitely, that's just one aspect of it. I'm trying to decide how elaborate to get on this topic.

Okay, quick list:

Getting infected with all sorts of diseases and viruses. Hence "universal precautions."
Getting into serious issues with predator clients
Obvious violence is one thing: getting swung at and hit (happened to me years ago and recently, yes, a person can really kick you into a wall, but there is the "soft violence" - verbal abuse, being treated like a slave, being abused, and having sexual innuendo/leering/touching/comments.

Does getting to work count? Where most people park all day, we drive in Winter road conditions under time schedules.

How about home conditions: uncontained animals, slippery flooring, lack of proper functioning furniture, and various other stuff most people never have to contemplate.

Now that list isn't every day stuff, but most of it is faced at one time or another. Some days are wonderfully free of danger while others feel like the Heaven's opened up.

[lesliepaul]

Looked at several "dangerous job" sites and as I thought, Firemen are NOT on the Top 10 list. In fact, on a couple of sites Firemen were rated "less dangerous" than cashiers. Time for this financial drain on taxpayers to be reigned in.

[dirtybiker]

Dangerous how ?

I just removed a half hour post.

in place.

My chosen fields through heritage of my ancestors have put me near the top of the
list in several classifications of danger.

Danger to my internals that may not rear their ugly heads for a time.

and/or

The immediate that could kill or injury me in a moment, whether my own fault
or the fault of other(s)
Or just the way stuff happens and being there.

Very subjective topic.

No matter ones chosen field, it will have it's pitfalls.

[dirtybiker]

Everything anyone does has it's dangers.

The more options and alternatives one has in the course of
duties and obligations minimizes risk of health and injury.

Injury and/or death holds no prejudice

[TreeGuy]

How high did you fall from 'TreeGuy' ? Sounds nasty painful.

I read that roofers have the most dangerous job that does not involve an engine of some kind. Farmer/rancher was right up there. I'm not sure if there would be anti anxiety pills needed before going to work though.

I’m not totally sure as I have some amnesia. I was on a 12’ ladder, my head was probably at least 12’ or more.

Here is an article talking about the level of danger an Arborist faces.

But let this not be a *bleep* match.

http://nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/how-cutting-down-trees-can-be-one-of-the-most-dangerous-jobs-you-can-get-in-a-city

[Smurf]

one of the most dangerous things with all jobs is familiarity. When you get too comfortable and to confident you tend to take more chances and/or not pay as much attention. I found as a safety officer that many accidents happened when the person was doing a simple task not an very dangerous one.

Probably the worst worker accident I had was lifting a propane tank, BBQ size, 38 lbs into the back of a half ton at the service station. I knew in my mind it was light, no problem, so I grabbed it and quickly twisted around and set it in the truck. The worst part was as I safety officer I had put on lifting demonstrations and then did something this stupid. Tore my rotator cuff. The doctor said my bicep was more than 3/4's torn off and almost not repairable. Yet I worked on large construction and industrial sites with all voltages of electricity for decades which is considered quite dangerous and never had a real injury.

Remember never to get to complacent just because something is familiar and simple. Remember even the simplest of jobs have their dangers.

[Queen K]

Yes, familariy most definitely. In CHWLand, it's not wanting to upset the client. So when ask something absurd, even simple things can turn into personal injury not covered by WCB. And you don't want to deal with them under the best of circumstances.

[seewood]

I had a dangerous job for about 25 years. Got to a point where I was nervous to go to work, so got out of it and started another business for 14 years now. Paid off the building and now going to retire after selling building and equipment. One of the lucky ones without a permanent injury and still alive.
Past job was falling , mainly for helicopter shows where conventional harvesting couldn't get to. Did some contracting as well. I did 3 years post secondary, 2 at BCIT/forestry, but still went into falling. The adrenalin rush was there at times so were the injuries and hospital stays.
Thing with trees is they can be unpredictable with hidden surprises in a 13 foot hollow yellow cedar. Think about the possibilities of it going pear shaped and one can usually get the tree down without too much drama.
Was also poc fire guy for 19 years. Thing with being a fire fighter is one usually does have the option to deal with a dangerous situation and will usually have options to deal with it in a safer way. I was always told, "you did not start the fire so don't unduly risk your life to deal with the fire" Risk VS. benefit was always going through my mind as a fire fighter and later as an officer.
In falling, several trees, snags actually, over the years I found too dangerous to cut down so we blew them. Several wraps with B-line and all was good. Jacking a half rotten 6 foot hemlock tree so it would not fall into a creek was an interesting exercise as well.
Now I get a chance to putter around the house if one of Okanagan's drivers does not get me first.
Regarding remuneration, a couple of years ago I was told a company up north were looking for fallers, day rate for 6.5 hours on the stump was $700.00 all found. I worked with several over the years that were functionally illiterate. Career fire fighters I believe are paid very well. perhaps some have post secondary education, but I believe if you pass all the tests and are selected, a rookie has a very good starting wage. Many FF's in Penticton can push $80-110,000 a year with a great pension.

[JayByrd]

Dangerous can have different meanings. Is the most dangerous job, the one with the most workplace injuries? Or the one with the most severe injuries? And as Queen K pointed out, some situations are dangerous to a worker's well-being, even if they're not physically dangerous. Do those count? They probably do if you're the one exposed to them.

oldtrucker talked about working as a heavy tow operator. To me that seems like a job where if something does go wrong, it's likely to be catastrophic (getting whacked by a snapped cable, pulled down an embankment, hit by a vehicle, etc). The risk is always present, even if nothing actually happens.

"Most dangerous" is subjective. I want data!

[TreeGuy]

Dangerous can have different meanings. Is the most dangerous job, the one with the most workplace injuries? Or the one with the most severe injuries? And as Queen K pointed out, some situations are dangerous to a worker's well-being, even if they're not physically dangerous. Do those count? They probably do if you're the one exposed to them.

oldtrucker talked about working as a heavy tow operator. To me that seems like a job where if something does go wrong, it's likely to be catastrophic (getting whacked by a snapped cable, pulled down an embankment, hit by a vehicle, etc). The risk is always present, even if nothing actually happens.

"Most dangerous" is subjective. I want data!

Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) compiles accident statistics from media accounts of accidents, OSHA website reports, and various other sources. Between 2009 and 2013 TCIA recorded 408 fatal accidents from tree care operations, 47 of which were aerial lift operator fatalities in the private and public sectors. Of those 47 aerial lift fatalities, 14 were related to electrical contact and the remaining 33 were falls. Thirteen of the 33 falls resulted from unsecured workers (no fall protection), 12 were boom failures, one was an aerial lift tip over, and seven did not have enough details to determine the cause. This stakeholder noted that the data does not track which fatalities involved getting struck by a tree branch.

US data.

[Hurtlander]

Does getting to work count? Where most people park all day, we drive in Winter road conditions under time schedules.
.

No, getting to work under time schedules shouldn’t count. If it did, pizza delivery would have to be considered a dangerous job.

[sobrohusfat]

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Dad to a female ginger teenager









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