Top of the list baby! Most dangerous jobs...

Pete1977

Pete1977

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commercial fishing industry- 118.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers

why do it then? or any of the other jobs on the list for that matter?

I do it because I enjoy it. I like the independence, I like being my own boss. My office is the ocean, sometimes with no land in sight. I love being outdoors, dressing how I want, and I have had a passion for the sea since I read a book by jacques cousteau in the sixth grade.

now, these lists can give a false impression of what it is like. for the most part, if you've worked in a factory or other type of assembly line job, it is almost the same. except your work station is moving on all but the flattest calm days. I equate it to 99% monotony with 1% of abject terror thrown in to spice things up. Shows like the Deadliest Catch don't show the boring monotony of fishing because it doesn't sell. don't get me wrong, the bering sea crab fishery is probably the extreme in terms of risk and danger. and the longer the boat stays out, the higher the chances for something to go wrong. crabbing in alaska, when it was a derby style fishery, was characterized by long periods on deck with very limited rest or sleep. this too is a factor. take it from me, 42 hours awake on a gulf shrimper leaves your reflexes and judgement very compromised. but if you don't fish you don't make money, and when you're racing for a high price and a slammer trip, you don't catch fish when you're sleeping. eight hours on land in 32 days gives you a lot of time on the water and a lot of time for something to go wrong on the boat.

I love what I do. even on the coldest, windiest days, with high seas, flying spray, trying to remain standing on an icy, pitching deck, and using the foulest language imagineable because the price is low and the catch is poor, when I'm not on the boat, I want to be. go figure. ;)

pete :)
 
you are right KV about that being a 2005 stat. :)

personally I don't think it is a fair comparison to put loggers, fishermen, and farmers in the same category of dangerous jobs as one would put soldiers, police officers, and fire fighters. this is my opinion, however, soldiers, police and firefighters do a job that could cost them their lives but it is a job that is done for the greater good of the community. without them, it would be a whole different place to live. people for the most part can live without lobsters, or pay a little more for wood and vegetables. it is apples to oranges (excuse the pun ;)). military personnel, police officers, and firefighters for the most part do a thankless job but a necessary one.

EDITED TO ADD: my father was a police officer for 30 years, my cousin is currently a detective, and two uncles and several second cousins are or were firefighters. several of them were also in various branches of the military. thankfully, aside from some close calls with my father, none have really befallen serious injury. I'm the only commercial fisherman ;)

pete
 
Average salary of construction worker: $29,050 :eek:


Here in Czech Republic, member of European Union, avg. salary (generally) is under $10,000.

If you have university degree (and you are lucky), you may get close to $14000.
All figures are before taxes which are around 30%.
Another 8% are social and health insurance (obligatory, so you have no choice if you want it or not, note that you don't have any account - everything goes to national moneybox), not to mention additional 12.5% tax of your salary that pays your employer.

Not counting inflation or rate of interest you'd need to spare your whole (average) net income for 5 years to buy a Ford Mondeo (which is roughly $36,000 in Europe :thumbup:)


Damn, the risk is worth living without "socialistic" government and their thievish taxes :barf:
 
I would rather be a Soldier in Iraq than a 3rd shift cashier at a convience store off the interstate.
 
I think that a "Security contractor" in Iraq may be one of the more dangerous careers at the moment.
Funny how the Iraq conflict has legitimised Mercenaries and made the stigma attached to that profession evaporate and now its become a respectable occupation.
It is a shame that "Security companies" are recruiting from the current active elite armed forces offering over $1000 a day in some cases.
Similar to the commercial airlines that buy up Airforce pilots..
Tax payer trained talent off to the highest bidder.
 
Danno4017 said:
Similar to the commercial airlines that buy up Airforce pilots..Tax payer trained talent off to the highest bidder.
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I can't help thinking that if we paid our military folks a little better, there would be less incentive to bail out for a high-paying job in the private sector.
 
I would love to be a commercial fisherman or charter boat captain, but only in the Chesapeake Bay, those longliners are nuts ;). Hmm, I'd like to go out in the open ocean, but I am a little feared of those rogue waves that have been purported to take down cruise liners, cargo ships etc. Pete, how many guys have you known that went down with their boat? Other than the famous Gloucester case?

Ken, while the fireman has one of the most high risk jobs out there, I am always awed at the camraderie these men and women have, for perfect strangers who happen to be firefighters. I was out with a friend in central PA, we stopped at a local firehouse, he told them which house he worked out of, and he was treated like family (I was taken care of too, some of the guys went nuts over my Spydercos at the time BTW). Anyway, people always say that all police and soldiers are tight, well, firemen are the closest knit IMHO. They will rag on you nonstop if they like ya, but they take care of one another like family.
 
Bah , none of those jobs are hard.
Try being the person that gets to change bedpans in a nursing home.
:thumbup:
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I would love to be a commercial fisherman or charter boat captain, but only in the Chesapeake Bay, those longliners are nuts ;). Pete, how many guys have you known that went down with their boat? Other than the famous Gloucester case?

Ken, while the fireman has one of the most high risk jobs out there, I am always awed at the camraderie these men and women have, for perfect strangers who happen to be firefighters. I was out with a friend in central PA, we stopped at a local firehouse, he told them which house he worked out of, and he was treated like family (I was taken care of too, some of the guys went nuts over my Spydercos at the time BTW). Anyway, people always say that all police and soldiers are tight, well, firemen are the closest knit IMHO. They will rag on you nonstop if they like ya, but they take care of one another like family.
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I thankfully have never known anyone personally who was lost at sea. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who have lost family members or friends.

there is a statue on stacy boulevard in gloucester, the Fishermen's Memorial Cenotaph,called "the man at the wheel" by locals. it may be familiar to most people because it is the picture on the box of gorton's fish sticks. It faces out to sea, but more importantly, it faces several plaques with the names of over ten thousand gloucester fishermen lost since the founding of the town in the sixteen hundreds.

walk through town with an old timer. there are still a few around who could tell a horror story or two of their own, as well as point out most of the boats in town and give a list of the tragedies surrounding them.

Last fall if i remember correctly, I was working and about thirteen nautical miles southeast of our position we noticed a plume of black smoke. It wasn't very high at first, so it must have just started burning, whatever it was, when we first noticed it. in five minutes the smoke was pure white, and in another five, it stopped. there was no land in that direction for around twenty five miles. we had one vhf on 14 and one on 16 and on both channels there were men trying to figure out who's boat was burning. some were panicking. we didn't even attempt to get down there, it would have been over an hour before we arrived. talk about feeling helpless. it turns out that the fisherman was an old italian guy, of a big local family, he was somewhat of the patriarch. he noticed smoke, opened a hatch, and was hit in the face with a blast of flames. his face and hands were badly burned. he went into the pilot house and first put on his survival suit. then he may or may not have put out a mayday. if he had went to the radio first, he would have been dead. it was late nov. early dec. and going in the water without a suit on is fatal. anyhow, he went into the water and was picked up 45 minutes later by another fishing boat. the coast guard met that boat another half hour or so later and airlifted him to a hospital. he survived. I think he retired from fishing.

on another note, a local crewman died last week from an oxycontin overdose. aside from the danger inherent when working on a moving platform around machinery, rope, and other assorted accidents waiting to happen, the commercial fishery has one of the highest rates of drug and alcohol abuse of any profession.

edited to add: because of the tightening regulations, money is short, and some people are forced to go fishing by themselves. this is dangerous. if anything happens and you can't get near a radio, or a knife, and you go in the water, that's it. they find your boat running in circles, or washed up on the rocks and they bury an empty casket.

pete
 
Pete, in retrospect, my question could have been worded more carefully. Those people on your crew, on your dock, and in your area are at the very least acquaintances, and I don't want you to think that I am careless about those fisherman who have died.

About ten or so years ago, maybe later, a local Ocean City crewman, a seasoned man, pulled in a sailfish. No one knows why, but he wrapped the line around his hand, and was pulled over. They never found him.

When you are out at sea for a prolonged period of time, after you're done working, what else is there to do? Eat, play video games, watch movies, etc? At the old dive that was near the marina my father and uncles keep their boats at, most of the denizens were old salty dogs who drank from dawn to dusk, and still took out charters.
 
>When you are out at sea for a prolonged period of time, after you're done working, what else is there to do? Eat, play video games, watch movies, etc? At the old dive that was near the marina my father and uncles keep their boats at, most of the denizens were old salty dogs who drank from dawn to dusk, and still took out charters.

That's a good point. It reminds me of Elton John's song Rocket Man. "It's just my job 5 days a week." What does he do on weekends?
 
huugh said:
Average salary of construction worker: $29,050 :eek:


Here in Czech Republic, member of European Union, avg. salary (generally) is under $10,000.

If you have university degree (and you are lucky), you may get close to $14000.
All figures are before taxes which are around 30%.
Another 8% are social and health insurance (obligatory, so you have no choice if you want it or not, note that you don't have any account - everything goes to national moneybox), not to mention additional 12.5% tax of your salary that pays your employer.

Not counting inflation or rate of interest you'd need to spare your whole (average) net income for 5 years to buy a Ford Mondeo (which is roughly $36,000 in Europe :thumbup:)


Damn, the risk is worth living without "socialistic" government and their thievish taxes :barf:
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Hee hee hee! I'm a carpet designer, which has to be one of the safest jobs in the world, and I make more than 5 times as much as a construction worker in the Czech Republic. God bless the good-ol' USA! (this is me being a jerk):D

But for what it's worth, I pay somewhere around 30% in taxes too, and I pay $300 a month for health insurance.
 
moonwilson said:
Hee hee hee! I'm a carpet designer, which has to be one of the safest jobs in the world, and I make more than 5 times as much as a construction worker in the Czech Republic. God bless the good-ol' USA! (this is me being a jerk):D

But for what it's worth, I pay somewhere around 30% in taxes too, and I pay $300 a month for health insurance.
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Carpet designer? Something like THAT is a job?! (and this is me being jerk :))


However I can make you even more happy - construction worker (the average type guy with wheelbarrow and trowel :)) is paid somewhere around $3 an hour. (mathematically that's about $5000-$6000 a year but remember there isn't much construction when it's cold (winter), so it's probably even less)

On the other hand we have plenty (PLENTY) unemployed "minority group" members that can get $15000 (correct, MORE than employed people with university degree) a year of social benefits, provided he has enough children :barf: (which doesn't seem to be a problem to them :barf:)
 
As a FF I've been to a few FF funerals. But the rate we die is low. 11 out of 100,000, fishermen was 96 out of 100,000.

Now add in the fact that 50 percent of our deaths are from heart attacks, many of these from overweight smokers .

I'd rather be in a burning building then behind the counter of a 7-11 or drive a taxi.....
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I would love to be a commercial fisherman or charter boat captain, but only in the Chesapeake Bay, those longliners are nuts ;).
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silent, I'm with you. I love going out on the Bay for a day (or night) of fishing on a charter boat, but I wonder why they call striped bass Rockfish around here. :confused:
 
I grew up in a small city outside of boston and spent summers in gloucester, working on a party boat. we tied up next to gillnet boats and draggers, and every so often there would be boats from out of state tied up and taking out at star fisheries, and later at the seafood display auction. These guys would come in draped in gold chains and go up to the bars and blow ludicris amounts of money in a night. they were hard working, hard partying men. maybe they were rough around the edges, maybe they swore like, well, sailors. the women they usually had weren't the best looking of the bunch, and definately ones you wouldn't take home to your folks. lots of them didn't pay their taxes, the captains might have smuggled a little pot, coke or heroin, underreported their catch, or sold fish for cash. you could be the dregs of the earth, but no one would give you crap unless you were one thing- lazy. in this lifestyle. being lazy was the worst thing you could be called, worse than a liar or a thief. these guys worked hard, they played hard, and a lot of them died hard. now, take these fellows, and compare them to men who went to see for months at a time to fish from dories in some of the worst conditions on earth, or whalers who went to sea for four or more years at a stretch. fishermen of today cannot compare to the men of old, and what we look at as work, they would scoff at as a daysail. ;)

SHS I didn't take any offense or otherwise at your asking whether I knew anyone who died at sea. the best way in my opinion to memorialize them is to tell a few war stories over cold captain and gingers at some waterfront dive.

pete
 
Man, I have to drive up there and share a coupla beers with ya Pete. I would love to get a transfer to a New England shore town office, living on the water is the life for me :).
 
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