How hazardous is your job

[Bustanut joker]

now where is some wood to knock on?

Right atop your shoulders :yahoo:

Fuzzy Balls to the pneumatic nailer's and staple guns! Its rather bothersome when you slip and staple your thumb to your index finger :blink:

Oh and add 18 inch long razor sharp foam knifes too. Those buggers will give a fella several days off (not me). And the lift truck driver thats so stoned he falls asleep at the wheel at inopportune times :dribble:

:jester:

 

[Fred W]

Hazards in my line of work:

I handle liquid helium regularly. -452 degrees F boiling point. That's 4 degrees above absolute zero (Kelvin) Yeah, that stuff is cold. When the liquid turns to gas it expands at a rate of 750:1 and will displace oxygen. It will asphyxiate you in about a minute if you don't ventilate properly.

Also have to work on the refrigerators that can go down to 4K (gotta keep the helium liquefied for as long as possible). Frost-bite burns before you know what happened.

I work in extremely high magnetic fields (that's what the helium is for). Many are as much as 60,000 times stronger than the earth's magnetic field. Small flying ferrous objects hit people pretty regularly. Big ones can kill you. Saw a pallet jack get sucked up into one of our magnets. It made a mess. Luckily nobody was between the Jack and the magnet when they decided they wanted to join forces.

Anyone guess what I do?

 

[ionbeam]

Anyone guess what I do?

Sounds typical of high vacuum equipment. Cryo pumps and turbo-molecular pumps fall into this class. Vacuum leak checkers can also be run like this, though they normally have a roughing pump backed by a diffusion pump. This type of vacuum equipment typically operates from 10 -4 Torr to 10 -12 Torr, outside viscous flow and into molecular adhesion or molecular collection.

?????

 

[odot]

It must officially be winter time. The time of year when tripe like this tastes really good.

 

[Fred W]

Anyone guess what I do?

Sounds typical of high vacuum equipment. Cryo pumps and turbo-molecular pumps fall into this class. Vacuum leak checkers can also be run like this, though they normally have a roughing pump backed by a diffusion pump. This type of vacuum equipment typically operates from 10 -4 Torr to 10 -12 Torr, outside viscous flow and into molecular adhesion or molecular collection.

?????

Yeah, we work with high vacuum turbo-molecular pumps and such too. But that's just for the vacuum insulation to keep the helium around longer.

Hint: I'm not in the semiconductor industry

 

[Fencer]

Anyone guess what I do?

Sounds typical of high vacuum equipment. Cryo pumps and turbo-molecular pumps fall into this class. Vacuum leak checkers can also be run like this, though they normally have a roughing pump backed by a diffusion pump. This type of vacuum equipment typically operates from 10 -4 Torr to 10 -12 Torr, outside viscous flow and into molecular adhesion or molecular collection.

?????

Yeah, we work with high vacuum turbo-molecular pumps and such too. But that's just for the vacuum insulation to keep the helium around longer.

Hint: I'm not in the semiconductor industry

I was gonna guess a partical accelerator, but...

cold fusion???

 

[uctofeej]

I've made a career out of keeping myself one step removed from the risky stuff. Instead, I teach others about it, then let them do it. That way I can huddle safely behind my 'puter screen.

Hey, pony and pig, I've got a free class for LEOs... interested?? :lol:

 

[Fred W]

[i was gonna guess a partical accelerator, but...
cold fusion???

Nope far more mundane than that. In fact there is probably one of these things within a few miles of every one of us.

 

[Geezer]

I worked on an airport tending to small airplanes. There was always the risk that some rich fool would do something stupid, but I didn't work there long enough to get hurt.

I worked a couple of years as an industrial electrician with some high voltage stuff. I saw a guy blow a few inches off the end of his screwdriver while standing on a ladder about fifteen feet up, but he was able to hang on. I got zapped a couple of times with 110 volts, but never got hurt.

Now, I don't even run the risk of a paper cut because I read everything in softcopy on my laptop. I guess the most dangerous part of my work day is the commute and I only drive in once or twice a week. Life is good.

 

[zorkler]

how about 600 volts and 10000 amps do it for you . 15 years working on that stuff . i am now disabled from it .

 

[Old Michael]

[i was gonna guess a partical accelerator, but...
cold fusion???

Nope far more mundane than that. In fact there is probably one of these things within a few miles of every one of us.

I give up.

 

[Geezer]

[i was gonna guess a partical accelerator, but...
cold fusion???

Nope far more mundane than that. In fact there is probably one of these things within a few miles of every one of us.

Transformers?

 

[Fred W]

[i was gonna guess a partical accelerator, but...
cold fusion???

Nope far more mundane than that. In fact there is probably one of these things within a few miles of every one of us.

Transformers?

Nope. Here's another risky part of my job:

[whisper]

I see sick people...

[/whisper]

Sick people like to exude body fluids at the drop of a hat. This is not a good thing for your own health and longevity.

 

[squeezer]

I was wondering if anyone who teaches in public schools would chime in. The public (of the public schools) generally have no concept of the hazards we deal with on a daily basis. And you didn't even mention the constantly evolving germ warfare environ, exposure to molds and other hazardous substances or the potential of weapon-toting adolescents hopped up on the rush of the week. Teaching is sooo rewarding.

Rant over and yes I feel better now.

I'm a college professor, not K-12, but we face a lot of the same stuff.

I suppose our number 1 danger is lawsuits. I got sued in my very first semester as a graduate teaching assistant when we failed a student who couldn't read. I mean, he literally had difficulty spelling his own name. I realized then it was just a fact of life in this job and that I'd just have to stop worrying about it. I haven't actually been sued since then, but I've been threatened with it so many times that I stopped keeping count.

Next biggest job hazard is our state legislature, where the conservative wing has told us to expect to be hauled down to the capitol to face hearings if they get reports that our lectures are too "liberal" for their tastes. Mine aren't, but the threat is always there.

I've only had one student go on a shooting spree. Grabbed his dad's service revolver one weekend and went around town killing folks who had tried to help him through his troubles. Picked off his minister, a therapist, and an AA counselor. They busted him on a Sunday. One cop told me that it was likely he would have come for faculty on Monday.

And I edit a journal of scholarly research on war crimes, genocide, and similar happy human activities. That generates the occasional, anonymous email filled with vague threats from people who clearly have a tenuous grip on reality. Talking with colleagues at conferences, it's clear that this isn't especially unusual either. They get trashed.

Yeah, teaching definitely has its moments.

 

[Geezer]

MRI

 

[Fred W]

MRI

Correctamundo!! We have a winner. I install and service MRI scanners.

Nowadays, it seems like there's one on every street corner. :glare:

 

[ionbeam]

I guess that puts you into MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)?

Edit: I see Geezer beat me by 1 minute!

 

[rhody]

Anyone guess what I do?

Particle Physicist perhaps, just because you list Londonderry NH in your profile it may be a vacation address, work for Fermilab perhaps, they use liquid helium, and lots of it.

Particle/Quantum physics has been a part time reading hobby of mine for the past twenty plus years, from a layman's perspective of course. Just as a curious aside, and not to highjack this thread, how many of FJR members/riders have an interest in physics ?

For me at least, the interaction of the rider combined with the machine and its state of adjustment/tune, and in turn interacting with the infinite road surfaces/conditions provides endless possibilities for learning the art of motorcycling. In a way sort of like a controlled experiment each and every time you ride. A life long experiment that if done wisely, never ends....

Enough rambling, and please dogpilers, be kind..... :ranting2:

 

[Fred W]

I guess that puts you into MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)?
Edit: I see geezer beat me by 1 minute!

Ha ha, yep. But I do get "put into" the MRIs quite often. That's the bonus part of the job. I get to take a nap while someone else runs test scans on my oversize, uhm... self.

 

[JR'SFJR]

I just retired from teaching automotive mechanics on the east coast of FL. There is alot of safety and liability(lawyer) concerns working with students operating equipment in the shop while servicing vehicles. Most students did very well, but every fall, I had to "weed out" a couple of students in each class, that just didn't care. I never had a student drop a vehicle off a lift(it happens) or anything else major. Safety glasses a must. Also, we worked with alot of different chemicals. Sure had to keep an eye on them though.

I grew up on a dairy farm up north during the 50's. I wonder at times how I survived. Lost a sister in a farm accident. Dad started us out very young like most. I roll a tractor over in a ditch at 7 yrs old and didn't get hurt. We lost several farmers around our area, mostly from tractor roll overs. Bulls got a couple. Dynamite got another!! I think equipment has improved alot and there are fewer farmers with bigger farms.

I drove 18 wheeler most of my teaching career as a part time job. I think it's alot like riding motorcycle. It can be a very dangerous if you don't defensive drive.