How Safe is Your Job?

SAFETY

A recent article in the New York Daily News wrote about how certain jobs are high-risk and the importance of weighing the dangers of a position before taking on employment. Are you getting paid enough to risk your health or even your life to do the job at hand? And is the job something that you actually enjoy doing? There are many factors to be considered when thinking about working a potentially hazardous job.

Some jobs are obviously dangerous; police officer, firefighter, soldier; these jobs come with the well-known aspect of danger, and they don’t try to hide it. But there other jobs out there come with hidden risks that we might not always take into consideration.

The position of news correspondent (especially within war-torn foreign countries) can be extremely dangerous. Although you might not normally think of the job of a newsperson or journalist to be high-risk, we always hear stories about people being captured, kidnapped, blown up and shot in the line of a duty as a news correspondent. If you majored in journalism in college, you may have not looked at your career path as one that you might have to risk your life in.

Some people enjoy the risk that comes with certain jobs. They thrive on danger, and these people are well-suited to become lifesavers and daredevils. But what about the rest of us that just want to simply work a job, get paid, and not have to worry about if we are going to make it through the day? When you start to think about it, more and more seemingly harmless jobs all have their own underlying dangers.

Take the schoolteacher for example. Most people that go into the field of education are not exactly aspiring towards a life of big thrills and risks. They typically just want to mold the minds of our youth and take home a decent paycheck in the process (with summers off!).

But there are horror stories out there about teachers being attacked at schools, kids bringing guns to campus and insubordinate students. And there is always the risk of catching some sort of airborne illness in such a confined space with so many other people.

Factory workers, cashiers, taxi drivers, bankers and physical labor jobs – they all have their own risks which must also be weighed in determining if they are worth it. But one thing is for sure. If you are looking for a job that is not high-risk, doesn’t require long and strenuous labors while being away from your family and friends in an isolated environment for long periods of time, do not become a roustabout.

Considered to be one of the worst jobs for 2011, a roustabout is an oil rig and pipeline maintenance worker. Made even worse by the BP disaster in the Gulf, the roustabout is not the ideal position for someone who values their life.

But to each his own – some people enjoy doing work that others would not dream of. It’s all about weighing the different factors and determining if the job is something you are willing to risk your health or life for. If it’s something that you truly love or make tons of money doing, it might very well be worth it.

 

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