Posts Tagged steel worker

Photo by oskay

I read an article about former NFL football players, and how they are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at a rate that’s 19 times higher than the general population of men aged 30 to 49.  Holy smoke!  I’m glad that I was too small (at the time) to play high school football.  My brain is screwed up enough; I don’t need any help.

This got me thinking about risk and reward for performing dangerous activities.  I remember the cautionary tale about Mike Webster, the great Pittsburgh Steelers center who died at an early age after enduring mental damage from butting heads each week.  He made good money during his career, but died basically homeless.  A sad story.  But surely there must be jobs that carry as high a risk as football, so using data that I gathered from CareerBuilder.com,  PayScale and Business Week, I compiled a list with annual salaries for dangerous jobs:

Electric Power Line Worker - $45,000

Wow, only $45K with the risk of getting zapped by high voltage.  I’m glad that I went to college.

Structural Steel Worker - $39,000

While I’m not afraid to climb a ladder onto my roof, these guys are in a class by themselves.  I could never walk out on a steel I-beam hundreds of feet up in the air.

Alligator Trainer - $26,000

The only way I’d get that close to a gator is if it had one of my kids in its mouth.  No thanks.

Underwater Welder - $20,000 - $100,000

I love the ocean, but I’m sure this entails working in freezing water near an oil rig.  Look out for sharks, and the bends.

Coal Miner - $42, 000

Mine collapses.  Black Lung Disease, what a way to go.  Call it an early-retirement gift.  My wife wouldn’t let me in the house if I was that filthy.

Crab Fisherman - $29,000

A chance to get swept overboard in the frigid Bering Sea, and stinking of fish all the time.  I love fishing, but not under those conditions.

Oil Driller (Roughneck) - $47,000

I remember John Travolta in Urban Cowboy was a roughneck.  I think he had it easier when he was riding that mechanical bull.  Looks like you bust your ass for that $47K.

Do you know of any other dangerous jobs that pay well?  I left out the military, because they don’t pay those people enough.  I wonder what they get for being on the bomb squad?

• Made in the Shade Photo by MagdaMontemor As I mentioned in previous posts, I've done a lot of power-washing the past couple of weekends. During one of my breaks from the seemingly endless toiling, I happened to let my eyes wander up into the maple trees in my backyard. Communing with nature is......
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• Here Is The Forex Monster Sincere And Most Comprehensive Appraisal The publication of each forex trading robot generally comes with all sorts of waves on the internet. This is the case with forex monster Robot. There is a lot of attention and inquisitiveness generated around this recently released Forex robot. In effect, a lot of individuals are wondering if this......
• U.S. Economy sheds 85,000 Jobs in December [/caption] By PETER S. GOODMAN Published: January 8, 2010 NY Times The American economy lost another 85,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate held steady at 10 percent, tempering hopes for a swift and sustained recovery from the Great Recession. The monthly report included a revision in November that......