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As in jobs that have a high risk of death such as risk of falling off a tall building. Not things like firefighters that that have exposure to smoke etc.
Sitting on cranes whilst eating a sandwich.
Rope access work used to pay well. Especially when working at nuclear power stations.
Pay has turned around for such things now. It is the Person who employs that sort of Staff that gets the good pay, the Workers are on a normal Trades pay level, the Office Staff are getting more.
eyestwice
Full Member
Sitting on cranes whilst eating a sandwich.
Not really sure photoshop is that dangerous tbh.
There aren't many 'high risk of death' jobs nowadays, thankfully - the maligned HSE tends to legislate against them. But here's the list.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/18501691/most-dangerous-jobs-uk-pay/
Interesting for me - I hadn't included the risk to mental health in my immediate thinking.
I was going to suggest soldiering and then, bizarrely, came across this on the BBC news site - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62705206
As in jobs that have a high risk of death such as risk of falling off a tall building.
You are not using the word "risk" correctly.
When the hazards in a job can lead to death or serious injury, they should be, and generally are, tightly controlled with equipment, training and procedures.
This means that potentially dangerous jobs, can be actually be very safe, if the procedures are followed. Jobs like rope access, commercial diving, as long as they are done correctly are actually pretty safe.
I think the most dangerous job in the UK is commercial fishing. They are notorious for cutting corners and not doing things "properly".
I do remember watching something (possibly a news report) on deep sea diving (amongst other things chaps servicing oil rigs in the north sea). I'm pretty sure it was hugely dangerous.
I’m pretty sure it was hugely dangerous.
It's all relative. It's statistically safer than sport diving. As in time in water and number of accidents.
Amber Heard's bed maker?
Soft play centre manager?
Not really sure photoshop is that dangerous tbh.
It's rather iconic actually. 1930s, construction of the Rockefeller Center.
Maybe Google is too dangerous to use?
Deep sea diving - spend weeks at a time at depth welding pipes etc.
It’s rather iconic actually. 1930s, construction of the Rockefeller Center.
Pretty surprising (to me at least) that someone wouldn't recognise that photo, it's pretty famous!
I think the point being made is that the image up there is one where someone has photoshopped themself and their mates in.
I was in the army and that was dangerous when we deployment and pay was crap
I was than an antenna rigger that despite climbing up high masts and pylons wasn't tbat dangerous due to health and safety, that paid remarkably well
I'm now in the fire service and there is a lot more to worry about than inhaling some smoke, i was hit on the head by a falling roof tile in a building fire the other week that fell through two burnt out floors and knocked me down the stairs, things happen that our out of health and safety remits anyway I digress the pay is also crap
So the perception of risk appears to pay more than actual risk
I can't see the first image. Safari on iMac OS-whateverthelastestreleaseis or Safari on iPhone OS-whateveretc...
Pretty surprising (to me at least) that someone wouldn’t recognise that photo, it’s pretty famous!
There's a pic on FB, no idea if it's genuine, claiming to show the photographer balanced on a beam to get the shot. Though who took the pic of the guy taking the pic....
From that Sun list I'd say sewer unblocker was the best risk / reward / skill ratio.
Shit job though
Rig pig - hands on deck
Plenty of people and management seem concerned by the risks taken in forestry. They don't seem to realise that if they didn't impose ideas that having not visited work sites and paid well enough that corners weren't bent to make ends meet that it might be safer.
One out of two then.
Not sure where they got sparks wages from?
30k?
Wonder if it's more dangerous to have trained as a sparks and moved to high pressure gas.
I've survived a few electric shocks, but undoing the wrong part of a valve tends to be terminal with 300bar behind it.
I'm #24! in the Sun list job wise (my salary is different though).
I reckon asbestos removal probably pays well - the jobs we've had done at work (Victorian era buildings) are expensive and the company we use are really impressive in their approach and how the job is managed and performed but the grunts actually doing the dirty work are young guys of a 'neck tattooed' type that I can't help wonder are taking a decent pay cheque now with perhaps a shorter life expectancy?
We use an independent 3rd party to monitor and oversee the main removal company and have never had any issues so I know shortcuts aren't taken that would jeopardize people outside of the job but I don't know about inside.
Diver - the industrial kind.
As stated earlier, commercial fishing has always had a high rate of fatalities, as does farming, the rest discussed are fairly high hazard activities, but have a lot of mitigations and safety features, as well as paying very well in most of them, sadly when it comes to farming there's a lot of working in isolation and dangerous practices due to lack of funding and pressures on resources, without the reasonable pay!
Deep sea diving – spend weeks at a time at depth welding pipes etc.
That's probably a good example, most things ocean based in fact as rescue is potentially a long way off, you're probably more reliant on yourself for survival than most land based working environments...
How about Asbestos removal?
Not so sexy as working at height or below the ocean but brings a daily risk of exposure to potential hazards. Anything involving exposure to hazardous materials I guess, covers a lot.
Demolitions? Explosives, knackered buildings, seems risky IMO...
Totally forgot yes fishing end of thread
RustyNissanPrairie
Full Member
I’m #24! in the Sun list job wise (my salary is different though).I reckon asbestos removal probably pays well – the jobs we’ve had done at work (Victorian era buildings) are expensive and the company we use are really impressive in their approach and how the job is managed and performed but the grunts actually doing the dirty work are young guys of a ‘neck tattooed’ type that I can’t help wonder are taking a decent pay cheque now with perhaps a shorter life expectancy?
We use an independent 3rd party to monitor and oversee the main removal company and have never had any issues so I know shortcuts aren’t taken that would jeopardize people outside of the job but I don’t know about inside.
I work in the asbestos industry, and I can confirm that the job is potentially very dangerous. Apart from working with a carcinogenic product, work is usually in pretty unpleasant locations (think large plant rooms, roof voids, confined spaces, at height, hot and cold temps around other chemicals) Pretty surprised it's not on that Sun list!
It's used to pay well for removals workers, but pay has dropped. You can earn £40k doing removals with some overtime. But the job is hard work. If you follow procedures your risk of contamination is minimised significantly, but many companies cut corners hence the need for independent signing off on removal works. I've probably been contaminated by accident more times that I'd like to have been
The industry is pretty crazy to be honest.
Basically I need a new job and don't have time to re train. So something unskilled is preferred and happy doing something with a high risk that might put others off.
Fast jet pilot?
This was me in 2011 as a relatively new rope tech, doesn't look dangerous at all. Look how happy I look.
Depending on what you want to do and where you're willing to work the pay can be decent to pretty good. The best money I've heard of now is GWO and Wind turbine maintenance.
I used to be a tree surgeon, that's deemed to be pretty dangerous. As timber mentioned, forestry gets a raw deal, I was grilled by a Health and Safety manager on why I never climbed a tree with a fire extinguisher (in case my saw caught fire). She was oblivious to the roofer on a pit he'd roof with a cut off saw and now PPE or RPE.
Gobuchul hit the nail on the head. If any job is planned well, processes followed and guidelines adhered to it can be safe. Imagine if the kettle lead was damaged and not replaced, the person making the tea could be electrocuted...that's pretty dangerous in my eyes.
drug dealer? Can’t think of many legal jobs that fit that description!So something unskilled is preferred and happy doing something with a high risk that might put others off.
Totally forgot yes fishing end of thread
Deckhand only comes in at 4 on the list. That list is not just mortality, but also occupational disease and also includes mental health. It was quite a surprising list for me actually, worth a look.
My mate volunteered for bomb disposal squad.
Apparently the pay was amazing.
The life expectancy was less amazing 😱
As he told me this story, I assume he didn't get on the squad.
mjsmke
Full Member
Basically I need a new job and don’t have time to re train. So something unskilled is preferred and happy doing something with a high risk that might put others off.
Get your IRATA level 1 (1 week) , phone a geotech company get your PTS (3 days and a drug and alcohol test / medical) and jump on a rock scaling job. 12hours through the night prising rocks clearing veg and soil.
Some of the guys I worked with ticked the box of low skill and made it a dangerous job.
Apart from working with a carcinogenic product, work is usually in pretty unpleasant locations
I think this is it. I think high pay can come more from unpleasantness. Sometimes hazardous work is unpleasant but not always. Being a service engineer can be well payed because unpleasant not in terms of danger but traveling all the time, unsocial hours dealing with pressure of fixing something dealing with upset people vs having the same level of danger but fixing machine in a workshop 08:09-17:00. Etc but rope access the unpleasantness comes more from working in bad weather ( I would imagine) .
I remember having a discussion about pay with someone once and came to the conclusion
that for "normal" (non executive / director) it's a mixture of responsibility, skill, education, danger, unpleasantness in general terms. There also need to be the need of course, the scarcity of the required mix of the above.
My mate volunteered for bomb disposal squad.
Apparently the pay was amazing.
The life expectancy was less amazing 😱
As he told me this story, I assume he didn’t get on the squad.
Not quite as dangerous as you might imagine. Yes, it has its risks but it's nowhere near as reckless and death defying as many imagine. A rigourous training regime, strict SOPs borne out of decades of of hard won experience and a huge focus on risk mitigation and threat assessment mean that it's quite possible to serve a full and active career in EOD and finish with all your body parts intact.
Edit: The pay is not 'amazing' either
Basically I need a new job and don’t have time to re train. So something unskilled is preferred and happy doing something with a high risk that might put others off.
Russian infantry? I don't think it's well paid but your relatives will get a new Lada.
@blokeuptheroad I did a felling job on an old munitions site that required a bomb disposal presence whilst we worked. Chatting to the lad from bomb disposal about what would happen if we found something and his previous disposal jobs sounded pretty sketchy. His limbs did still appear to be originals though.
Basically I need a new job and don’t have time to re train. So something unskilled is preferred and happy doing something with a high risk that might put others off.
Cash In Transit driver. It was my old job and the companies are full of people who can't do much else! It's essentially a multi drop van job but with double the pay of Amazon and the like, the danger is in that there is a very real (but small) risk that someone will try and either beat you up or shoot you at some point. Long hours though and lots of heavy lifting if you join now, it is definitely one of those jobs that was a lot easier a few years ago hence why they have a recruitment problem. Regularly appears in lists of dangerous jobs but it's down to the small number of incidents being big rather than lots of danger.
@timber if you'd found something, it would probably have been laid there quite happily for several decades and be very unlikely to suddenly spontaneously explode provided no one moved it, kicked it etc.
What would have happened is an EOD operator would have assessed it as either: inert; live but safe to move; or 'blind' and not safe to move. If either of the the first two he would have chucked it in the be back of his van for later disposal. If the latter he would have nonchalantly placed half a pound of 'white noise' on it and maybe a few sandbags to tamp it and made a big bang whilst grinning heroically at the swooning onlookers and driving into the sunset with blues and twos on. Sometimes, allegedly even if 'inert' he might take this course of action (maybe upping the white noise quotient) if the WPC incident commander was particularly attractive. Allegedly....
Farming ?, especially if theres lots of machinery to be used. Very long hours so tiredness plays a part, and that isnt the best mix with moving machinery that can grab a sleeve and pull you in.
Money is apparently very good.
@blokeuptheroad we were dropping 40m/5t trees and winching them out through banks. We suspected it was pretty old inert stuff based on stories from locals, but the insistence that we couldn't start until disposal were on site suggested they thought otherwise.
Their approach was they'd just drive stuff out to the beach to blow it up, passes the day, who doesn't like fireworks?