How hazardous is your job

[James]

I mostly work w/gerbils, and the odd moron.

Ah ha! Tdubs alter ego finally surfaces :lol:

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

 

[Geezer]

My most frequent complaint? Repetitive strain injury in the right hand. CAD/CAM work during a big chunk of my day and working on the computer doing school work at night. I've learned to use the mouse with my left hand so I can switch off. That'll buy me some time, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough to get to retirement.

I used to have sore arm/wrist from using the mouse. Switched to the left and that helped but what is really great is to use a track ball. Your arm stays in one position (of comfort) and you only have to move your thumb. You might try one. Takes a little getting used to but no more than changing to the left hand for your mouse.

Cheers,

7X

I use a trackpoint. It comes standard on my laptop and I have an optional keyboard for my desktop machine with trackpoint on it. Much easier on the wrist than a mouse and it doesn't need any desk space. I normally sit with my feet up and the keyboard or laptop in my lap.

 

[uctofeej]

...Oh yeah, lifting 400+lb fuckers down at least 4 flights of stairs! Fat ***** made it up there now let gravity assist your fat ass down. There's a reason elephants don't live in the mountains, *******! :angry2:

RFLMAO! That's the quote of the day.

 

[rogdeb]

Now retired -- but I used to "hook" poles and climb down manholes for a living -- maintaining outside plant & equipment for what was then Pacific Telephone (subsequently Pac Bell, then SBC, now AT&T)

Hooking & working up poles for hours a day definitely screws up your knees, and idiots throw all sorts of crap down manholes just to see if they can hit you :lol:

 

[antirustbug]

Well how to start,I work for U.P.R.R - conductor on a x-board on call"24/hours-7/day," so wen a train doesn't Make it in from Spokane/Portland/La Grand, we as in me and a engineer have to go "dog-catch it" , OK for use non-railroaders , bring it the rest of the way to "Hinkle yard" the terminal on account the crew go's "dead" in 12 hours, and by F.R.A. Law can no longer be in control.

Also coal-trains that comes from Spokane to the terminal, we the crew take to the coal-plant, then there is the dreaded local-switchers, Hermiston/Pendleton/Kennwick....oug.

My Top Ten Dangers Are....... "drum roll please!"...........

1 crews staying a alert 3:00 in the morning.

2 contracted min,-wage drivers staying a wake.

3 abide by railroad rules 100% or get fired. "impossible".

4 abide by F.R.A. Rules 100% or get fired and or find "impossible".

5 truck drivers that try to beat a train.

6 injury to self,"Ankle Sprain, then fired for it.

7 run-away train cars.

8 derailments

9 derailments

10 derailments ( ran out of examples )

 

[artistic rider]

I'm an oil refinery operator, been one for about 11yrs. All kinds of nasty stuff there, or could happen at the drop of a hat. Before that, 21yrs in the military...

Same here. Lots of bad stuff. Cooked by a broken steam line, boiled in oil, Nitrogen asphyxiation, fall from hieghts, not to mention any fires you may have to fight. After thinking about my job I went out and bought my feejer! Might as well have some fun!

 

[evil_henchman]

I work for the power company. Used to operate power plants, voltages up to 500kV, large rotating equipment, high pressure steam, ammonia, ect. Now I'm in natural gas transmission pipelines and the biggest day to day hazard is driving on the road. Go figger. :glare:

 

[dean]

healthcare for me.Sick people all the time.

Needle sticks are my biggest risk

Been there a couple of times and have always dodged the bullet

and mrsa. i just read it killed more people last year than aids.

 

[dean]

incompetent coworkers (mis)handling their duty weapons that really have no business handling a firearm whatsoever.

complacent coworkers.

"resistant" felons with fugitive warrants.

 

[BBQ]

15 years in Appratus repair - machinist.

13 years owning and operating a Small HVACR company.

And now 3 years as the Service Tech for our local propane supplier.

You figure out the risks.

 

[Silver Penguin]

Oh yeah, lifting 400+lb fuckers down at least 4 flights of stairs! Fat ***** made it up there now let gravity assist your fat ass down. There's a reason elephants don't live in the mountains, *******! :angry2:

I'm right there with you Medic. My buddies and I feel quite strongly that if it weighs more than the average nurse, it is an adult patient NOT a pediatric one. If it weighs more than 2-3 nurses, then it cannot possibly be classed as a child. Pity the caregivers for the three year old (only just three, at that) who weighed almost 90lbs. Poor kid was literally a beached whale. Once he got rolled over in the bed, he was stuck until someone helped him.

Jill

 

[Scab]

Who needs "on the job" safety hazards? I am the poster-boy for safety violations. I have had burns, abrasions, cuts, chemical over-exposure (isocyanate poisoning), stab wounds, eye wounds (both foreign matter projectile and severe burns causing temporary blindness), back injuries, broken bones, and pretty much anything else you can do without dying. All classified as "self-inflicted due to stupidity." Oh, and then there was my whole second marriage. Still not sure how I survived that one.

Oh, Fence, I remember one of my frequent trips to the E.R. The guy in the stall next to me was there because he nail-gunned himself through the SCROTUM!

But actually "on the job?" Well, I work with mostly women. Just how long do you think it will be before I say something totally stupid and insensitive?

 

[odot]

Um, you sure them's women? In your case, harrassment would already have happened.

 

[Ratman]

I drilled a hole in my lizard once with a 1/8th inch drill bit; I was standing in the can holding it when the pusher walks in. He was laughing so hard I thought he was going to have a heart attack. A week later it went to the safety board and started all over again.

Keep you humble when you can make such an ass out of your self and still laugh about it..

 

[lacofdfireman]

Fireman here. As you all know we can expect to have all sorts of hazards at work. I currently work on a Ladder truck and am a tillerman. So I guess I could turn the wrong way and take out cars, light poles, people etc. When I get to the roof I could get hurt with the chain saw or ax doing ventilation, fall off the ladder or roof, fall through the roof as we are sounding our way to cutting a hole. Be overcome with smoke or fire, needle sticks on EMS patients or communicable diseases. When I was working at a slower spot in the County on an Engine Company my dad came to work with me one day to ru a few calls. He was there for most the day and we never turned a wheel. He told me later that at night he use to pray for my safety but after spending some time with me at work he said now he prays I won't fall out of the blue chair (Recliner) and get hurt. I thought that was kinda funny... Right now I am working at the busiest Firehouse in LA County. 3rd busiest in the Nation last year so we get lots of action....

 

[scubatech]

I now have a cushy job servicing scuba equipment for people from all over the world. I started out as an aviation mechanic, then auto mechanic ,to heavy equipment operation for twenty seven years. I definitely don't miss working in the cold & dirt!

 

[Thumperbike]

A weenie dog snapped at me the other day.

My weenie is pretty mean!

 

[ionbeam]

Who needs "on the job" safety hazards? I am the poster-boy for safety violations. I have had burns, abrasions, cuts, chemical over-exposure (isocyanate poisoning), stab wounds, eye wounds (both foreign matter projectile and severe burns causing temporary blindness), back injuries, broken bones, and pretty much anything else you can do without dying. All classified as "self-inflicted due to stupidity." Oh, and then there was my whole second marriage. Still not sure how I survived that one.
But actually "on the job?" Well, I work with mostly women. Just how long do you think it will be before I say something totally stupid and insensitive?

Dang Scab, you remind me of another character,

Joe Btfsplk -- Joe is so unlucky that he doesn't even have any vowels in his last name.

 

[cota95]

Computer programmer...the dreaded paper cut :blink: is always looming.

 

[FJRScorpion]

Steelworker automation technician. As I'm typing this with my dirty and 'blackened' hands, I'm in my office having a warmed-up bowl of spaghetti and that elusive 2nd cup of coffee. I notice the make-shift, 3-day-old, (now black) air filter on the return HVAC duct and the surrounding dirt on my desk and phone. I'm sitting here in my hardhat, safety glasses, Metatarsal shoes, flame/heat resistant-Arc Flash pants and shirt, with air filter mask and hearing protection' straps strung around my neck.

Beside me is the latest published list of employees killed at my location since the beginning of this plant. It is four pages of single-lined spaced names, their department, their years of service and date killed. There must be a couple hundred or so. Now days, each week I'm 'e-mailed' a fatality report from our corporate safety division about a co-worker that was killed in an accident, (we are a larger company now so the number of events have increased).

Outside the false security of this office and all around me, molten steel is being poured and cast into slabs. Fork lifts are wizzing around and EOT cranes with loads that weigh more that a semi-truck are passing overhead. Down the roadway a couple hundred yards are multiple chlorine tanks used to treat process water and across the ore yard are several blastfurnaces ready to spew thousands of PPM of carbon monoxide in the form of blastfurnace gas if someone 'slips up' or a piece of equipment fails.

Co-workers are stressed to no end, working 16 hour days, many 6~7 days a week for more than two years now. One mechanic millwright fellow only took two days from his schedule last year to marry off his daughter! My personal limit is 12 hours a day during the winter, less during the summer (to ride the bike of course) unless there's a work related emergency. I've half-jokingly pleaded with more than one person to give me 5 minutes of advanced notice before they start shooting. Most guys that I've heard that choose to end their life, do so away from work, either CO in the garage, hanging, or running into a tree or pole on the way home. Occassionally at work though, someone will 'fall' off of some high structure and believe me there is no shortage of them here! Somehow I've dodged the bullet with little more than a herniated disk, a few cuts and bruises, and a twisted ankle, from doing "too much". An occassional pain and ache now and again reminds me of my mis-spent youth taken risks in the steel industry for 31 years. :glare: