Most Dangerous Jobs Ever

When talking about the most dangerous jobs, most people will think of police men, firefighters, and soldiers. But we here at sickandmad.com beg to differ. We have come up with a few suggestions for dangerous jobs that you should steer clear from, unless of course you have a death wish. And if you already are plying your trade in one of these hazardous occupations, then more power to you.

Fishing is one of those leisure pastimes that you resort to in order to get some peace and quiet, but not when it comes to commercial fishing. From 2000 to 2006 an average of 115 out of 100,000 fishermen died every year. What makes this one of the most dangerous jobs? The biggest risk comes from the weather, in the form of sudden gales, major storms, heavy fog and other natural phenomena that can cause capsizing, grounding and collisions. Other potential risks include loss of power, fire on board, poor construction standards, predatory animals and the accidents that all people who work with heavy machinery may find. All of these factors combine to make this one of the most dangerous jobs out there.

When a common occurrence in your line of work is called a “widowmaker”, you know you are part of one of the most dangerous jobs ever. Timber cutters usually work with heavy, moving weights and equipment (e.g. chainsaws) on uneven and unstable terrain. Foul weather also makes its presence known here, such as extreme heat or cold. No wonder 93 deaths out of 86,000 workers were reported by the US logging industry in 2008 alone. And just in case you were wondering, widowmakers, also known as fool killers, are broken limbs, tops or other hazardous objects that hang freely in the canopy of a tree that is to be felled. Is this one of the most dangerous jobs? You bet it is.

Dangerous jobs are usually not the most glamorous of the bunch. Examples include waste collectors and miners. Garbage collectors, on the other hand, deal with chemical burns, disposable needles, broken glass, disease, asbestos, dog attacks, pests, dust, bad weather and traffic on a daily basis. As for miners, at any given disaster, more than a thousand lives can be lost, as were the cases of the Courrieres mine disaster in 1906 (1099 casualties) and the Benxihu Colliery accident of 1942 (1549 deaths). Granted, safety measures have improved a lot in the past few decades, but miners still have to face poor ventilation, gas exposure, and methane gas and coal dust explosions, making mining of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Here at sickandmad.com we pay respect to the thousands of people that make living in the aforementioned dangerous jobs. As they say, you don't have to be crazy to be employed in these dangerous jobs, but it surely helps.