Posted on 04/10/2004 6:46:39 PM PDT by FreedomCalls
We all have an impression of what constitutes a dangerous job. Usually we base our feelings on three types of information. First, what we actually experience, since we all face various hazards during our daily tasks. Second, we all read and watch news accounts of mishaps. Third, we see different lists, charts and graphs that depict who gets killed and how frequently.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released one snapshot, based on 2002 data of on-the-job fatalities per 100,000 workers. The verdict: people who cut down trees, with a rate of 118 deaths per 100,000 workers. This is more than 26 times the average of all workers.
Commercial fishermen were second, with 71 deaths per 100K workers (drowning was the most common cause). Commercial pilots were third (70 per 100K, with most of the deaths in general aviation, with bush pilots, air-taxi pilots and crop-dusters producing spikes in the data far higher than the rate for airline pilots).
Structural-metal workerssuch as the people who build skyscrapers and bridgeswere fourth, with a rate of 58 per 100K. And fifth on the list were sales personnel who drive as a main part of their job (such as pizza delivery or servicing vending machines), with traffic wrecks, robberies and assaults as major factors.
The occupation with the highest total number of deathstruck drivers, with 808had a rate of 25 per 100K.
For the record, the Navy rate for on-duty deaths is 9.37, and the Marine Corps rate is 21.75.
Oooops...there I go with that understatement stuff again...
I may have crossed paths with your husband. I was a Field Service Engineer with Marine Electric Company in San Diego from September 1977 to April 1980. I moved on to Pacific Bell at that point. Marine Electric was acquired by Marco Marine a few months later.
Good point as most of them are dead.
Most of The Kennedy Clan have self destructed. Only Teddey hangs on for some reason.
It might be a Faustion bargain if you get my drift.
LOL. Forgive me, but that was pretty funny.During my last two years of college, I worked at a sawmill. My husband and I had set up a five year mortgage, so we worked all the time. Each day after work, we would 'pulpwood' a load of about 6' logs and net about $100 (early 80's). He was the sawyer, I was the loader (with the help of a Satterfield winch and cable mounted on the pulpwood truck). When trees are cut, one tries to specify the direction the tree will fall. Oftentimes, the tree will hang up on surrounding trees. When the sawman tries to dislodge this mess, the bottom of the tree is prone to snap up quite quickly. Speaking with loggers who brought logs to our mill and watching my husband pulpwood, I'm under the impression that this propensity was the most dangerous aspect of the job.
The pay is low but the tips are big.
Where I lived (in Redwood Country, Mendocino County Calif) the cutters were called fallers.
Part of the reason their job was so dangerous is that they got paid in a piece work fashion. They were paid for the board feet they fell.
Choker-setters was an entry level job, quite dangerous also. Wrapping a chain or cable around a log (some 5 to 10' in diameter) and getting your hand out before the operator of the machine to pull it to where it needed to go starts pulling.
Good money while the season lasted, and then some of them would spend their time tending their pot gardens. Some of the others spent most of their money on drugs and Dom Perignon and then were broke.
Several deaths a year in the logging industry in Northern Mendocino County where I lived. (The intersection of Hwy 1 and Hwy 101)
Just thinking now about Easter, one of the fallers always had a Easter get together at his place on the Eel River.
He was an Abalone Diver also.
10-15 foot barbecue filled with Abalone...man that was good!
I cut some timber on my property to sell, but only one was quite large, about 15' in diameter right by the road, Hwy 101. I let a pro cut that one.
And yes, a faller can determine where a tree falls.
I cut firewood a few winters in Santa Cruz, and got pretty good at determining where the tree would fall.
The real experienced fallers (mentioned above) would put their hat on the ground, and fall the tree so that it landed on the hat.
I had tried that when I was cutting firewood (Douglas Fir) and I liked my hat so much that I never squashed it! LOL
Alaska's commercial fishermen have a deadly job. Looking at the chart doesn't tell you the whole story. As a percentage of the workforce, they are a very tiny fraction. To have the second highest death rate in a fraction that size is quite telling. Give your courageous husband a big hug and thank him for me. My hat is ALWAYS off to commercial fishermen, no matter where or when they fish.
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