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.
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?
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.
Essex minge barber. Fits the brief perfectly.
Russian fast jet pilot?
A Lada a year as salary. If that.
Haha indeed 😆
But here’s the list.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/18501691/most-dangerous-jobs-uk-pay/
/blockquote>This list from the Sun is pants - just a PR story by a CV company, just manufactured “research” like the recent “equation” for how long before children get bored in car journeys.The real answer for the UK is published by the HSE:
By far the highest fatality rate is in the Agricultural/Forestery/Fishery industry, who are about 20x more likely to die at work than the average person.
A few years ago I saw a more detailed list of occupations and risk, but I don’t have the link. This showed deep sea fishermen as the pretty much the worst - if you did that job you would probably end up personally knowing at least one person killed at work.
I know a guy that was a diesel fitter for a mining company in Papua New Guinea. He got $250,000 AUD per year flying in and out every few weeks, but reckoned it was a nightmare. Armed guard required on all call outs. All colleagues were divorced alcoholics. He ended up with Ross River Fever IIRC and quit to go back to being a local car mechanic.
Soft play centre manager?
This is the correct answer - they are literal petri-dishes for every disease known to man. Forget wet-markets/pangolins - this is where the next 10 pandemics are coming from.
Serious answer...... I thought working on an oil-rig/oil tanker paid relatively well? Not anymore maybe. I think perhaps this kind of low skill/high risk/high reward only exists abroad now. So maybe mercenary?
Farming....
Money is apparently very good.
Lol! Not really as a job and not really as a rate of return on a business investment.
Basically I need a new job and don’t have time to re train.
Following in from my unpleasantness job Vs dangerous. Cleaning, but not normal office / house cleaning, post crime scene, post fire post body left undiscovered for three weeks.
This list from the Sun is pants – just a PR story........By far the highest fatality rate is in the Agricultural/Forestery/Fishery industry, who are about 20x more likely to die at work than the average person.
That is fatalities though. I don't dispute your numbers, but the Sun list is the 'most dangerous' and includes the potential risk from injuries and also mental health which is an angle I hadn't considered before reading it. eg: 60% of firefighters have mental health issues.That is a lot of people being damaged by their work even if the signs aren't immediately obvious.
It also says it's a compilation of 200 pieces of research, link https://drive.google.com/file/d/17zr-8_IKtyK615F9Oeshw6kfgQeNgi7R/view which are proper documents and which shouldn't be dismissed quite as easily just because it came in a Sun wrapper.
Scaffolder here and like others have said all the risk is designed out nowadays (at least at the top end of companies/works)
An example here is something we did last year, instead of hanging over the side of a building hanging the scaffold it was built on the floor and connected at the top, we also use tethered fittings and tubes for real high risk stuff
Also the wages are way off, post Brexit even a shit scaffolder down south is on 50K minimum
Those guys who work on live pylons get good money. Especially after a storm. No idea of training required though.
Compression divers get alot of bonuses but relying on a deckcrew of Nigerian spanners to hold your capsules at 5bar so you don't die if it deco's would be a worry
Stunt men on films get well paid. I used to fence (swordplay) with a guy who was learning driving, fighting , diving, etc.
The HMRC list of occupational pensions that can be drawn early might point you in the right direction.
How much dosh do you need?
Hgv driving tankers should be accessable if your willing to train up.
F1 driver used to be the most dangerous job in the world in deaths per year per employee, just over 1%. Pays pretty well too
South African cash in transit. Looks dangerous, not sure a lot pay.
Cash job
Nursing🙄🤣
In my time i have been exposed to TB, covid and have caught noro twice and scabies twice
It's your own fault tj, you refused to wear a helmet.
War officer for Putin or anything that you do unsuccessfully for Kim Jong-Un. Syrian Christian missionary.
That dangerous jobs list needs splitting into two sections. The first is actually dangerous jobs, and the second of not-actually-dangerous-but-statistically-skewed-because-stupid-people-take-lazy-shortcuts.
I'd say that farming is the most dangerous job (particularly cattle), but I grew up on a farm and the needless risks I'd see people take around machinery was horrifying. Part of it was sheer laziness - not stopping the PTO when working around the back of the tractor; connecting and disconnecting hydraulic lines under load; not fixing broken parking-brakes; and one particularly memorable occasion where a dodgy starter solenoid was bypassed by jamming a 5kg copper bus-bar between the battery contact and the starter while the tractor was in gear.
labourer in a mine in a developed country. just try to avoid being squashed by a heavy hauler
Deckhand/Roustabout offshore North Sea - preferably Norway if you want to good money and shift patterns. Long shifts (12 hours) but generally 2/3weeks on 2/3 off. Can be hard work in shit weather, but not actually that dangerous if you're in anyway sensible.
Basically anything offshore pays way better than the onshore equivalent. Just need your Bosiet/Mist certificate which is a week long course covering Fire-Fighting/Fire-evac/Helicopter escape/HSSE legislation. Most rigs in the UK/Norway sector are pretty comfy too.
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.
Some friends of mine are in the explosives business and had to decontaminate a pharmcetucal plant after an accident involving production of Nitroglycerin for high blood pressure treatment. The stuff had got everywhere - in ventilation ducts and so on - and posed the double fun of both being an unstable explosive material but also one if you got it on your skin or inhaled it your blood pressure would tank and you'd black out- whilst handling explosive materials.
Across all areas of work we don't include 'driving' as part of the workplace risk. The HSE says around 120 people get 'killed at work' each year, but five times that number die in road accidents travelling to from or for work - with only around a 10th of those people who's profession is some sort of driving. Not sure what percentage of those drivers are in TEAMS meetings.
The sector I work in is lobbying to reduce working hours - its only 'overtime' if we work more than 55 hours a week (which doesnt include travel time) - over concerns of the risk of accidents on the way too and from work.
60% of firefighters have mental health issues.
The last one I knew got convicted of arson. He was a reserve or on-call or what have you, got pissed up one night and decided he'd earn himself an extra job or two.
Deckhand/Roustabout offshore North Sea – preferably Norway if you want to good money and shift patterns.
The UK sector is simply not worth it. If you're very very lucky you'll be doing 2/3 but most places will be 2/2 or 3/3. That's before we even mention service companies where it's whatever/whatever (3 on 1 off is not uncommon).
Bear in mind that 2/2 is not actually 14 days on/14 days off. Right off the bat it's 15/13 because you have to travel to the rig. Getting to the heliport can add another day at each end onto that. Let's not mention fog and being stuck offshore.
Contrast that with Norway where 2/4 is the norm (and you still get paid more).
Problem is you won't get a job in Norway as a foreigner until you're very very experienced and they are desperate.
Those guys who work on live pylons get good money. Especially after a storm. No idea of training required though
Loads of training post an apprenticeship as well so years to get there (from my understanding after chatting to a few people)
@macruiskeen when I first started working with explosives in the army in the 1980s, we were still using up old stocks of 'Nobel's 808' for explosive demolitions. A WW2 era nitroglycerine based plastic explosive. It had effectively been replaced in service by PE4 - a more modern RDX based plastic explosive similar to US C4. PE4 was safer to handle, more stable in storage, less toxic, easier to mould into shape and a more powerful explosive. But we had to use up the 808. It was famous for giving you 'NG head' - a skull crushing headache caused by nitroglycerine absorption through the skin. The official antidote advice was 'drink alcohol', I shit you not. Blow shit up, get leathered. Happy days!
Offshore/maritime type work can seem to offer good pay but it all depends how it's broken down.
If you are self employed and getting paid £500 per day on 2/2 or 4/4 rotation and work around 6 months a year, that's about £90k a year. That would be a job in a supervisory/management type role.
Great.
Then break it down as an hourly rate.
You will be working a 12hr shift, typically a little more than that, so that's £42 per hour.
However, if you base that around a job that is based on a 8 hr day 5 days a week. You could expect to be paid over time for 4 hrs per day and weekend working.
That hourly rate comes down to around £30 per hour.
That doesn't even count the captive time when off shift.
Throw in paying for your own certificates, missing stuff at home and sometimes the general discomfort, not such a good deal.
Your best bet is get a vessel or rig that qualifies for your 100% tax rebate.
Yes you can earn decent money but there are a lot of sacrifices to be made.
The data from hse is not exposure adjusted by occupation, only sector, but the most dangerous occupation I believe is scaffolder due to falls from height. This is the commonest cause of occupation death.
Notably, there were 80 deaths of members of the public too (excluding patients in the NHS). Also our fatality rate is 5x lower than France, which I find very surprising indeed.
Semi-Professional drug trialist can pay well as an additional income if you have a clean bill of health, with very low risk. Btw you don’t get paid for risk, only inconvenience. If it was risky, we would do the trial!
the risk is designed out nowadays
The house opposite me had an unsecured stepladder on the third floor level, with a very low barrier. Of course it was side on too. I reported it.
Also our fatality rate is 5x lower than France, which I find very surprising indeed.
Despite what a lot of people think, we have a quite robust H&S culture. A lot of it is driven by lessons learnt in the North Sea, where fatalities were common place in the 70's & 80's.
I have worked with European companies and they used UK IOSH and NEBOSH qualifications as standard for H&S officers.
France has little offshore activity and has lots of farmers..........
Also our fatality rate is 5x lower than France, which I find very surprising indeed.
Can sometimes just be in the definition - as I mention above - five times more people die behind the wheel as part of their daily work activities than we in the UK count as a 'death in the workplace' So the scope in terms of what is or isn't being counted might not be the same when comparing between countries.
Now that we have a more dispersed workforce with a lot of people working from home or in the field our accounting of workplace safety might not be keeping up with our ideas of where the 'workplace' is and where people are when they're working. Does a deliveroo rider being knocked off their bike count as a workplace incident? Or tripping over the printer lead in your home office?
statistically-skewed-because-stupid-people-take-lazy-shortcuts.
I’d say that farming is the most dangerous job (particularly cattle), but I grew up on a farm and the needless risks I’d see people take around machinery was horrifying. Part of it was sheer laziness
It's probably also dangerous as it's an informal setting and your typical farmer probably isn't that hot on enforcing rules and safe systems of work for employees. I'd also imagine the percentage of unreported injuries are pretty high?
’d say that farming is the most dangerous job (particularly cattle), but I grew up on a farm and the needless risks I’d see people take around machinery was horrifying. Part of it was sheer laziness
I believe that there's also a higher incidence of skin cancer from prolonged exposure to the sun and some other highly unpleasant occupational hazards relating to chemical exposure (pesticides and sheep dip for example).
Sitting on cranes whilst eating a sandwich.
The link didn’t work, but I knew exactly which photo was referred to.
Photoshop didn’t exist until the late 90’s, early 00’s, when I started using Photoshop 3.0. That’s not to say manipulation of photographic images didn’t take place; it did, practically from the beginning. The expression ‘photographs don’t lie’ is a lie - photos lie through their teeth! However, there’s no obvious manipulation of that image, and a lot of the blokes who worked the ‘high steel’ were First Nations, as they were reputed to have no fear of heights.
Neither do I, it’s long drops, with an abrupt stop at the bottom I’m afraid of…
Interesting fact, generally the acceptable level of risk in most industry is about 1/10th of the risk associated with commuting by car.
So following that to it's logical conclusion, any job involving driving is more dangerous than most?
I'm not sure risk and reward are all that linked anyway. I've done some jobs that paid £400/day just to sit in a hotel room for the day on call. Very little skill needed either, it was just quite niche kit so more a case of right place at the right time to learn.
Lion prostate checker...
You may get scratched...
