# The most dangerous jobs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573 "2008-03-08T07:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/1 "2008-03-08T07:12:18Z")
[List here](http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/26/pf/jobs_jeopardy/) Kind of interesting. I kind of expected law enforcement to be up there, but it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/2 "2008-03-08T22:09:13Z")
I’d always heard oil-rig divers had the worst odds. Taxi drivers, fishermen and lumberjacks are right up there. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/3 "2008-03-09T00:36:50Z")
[QUOTE=astro] I kind of expected law enforcement to be up there, but it’s not. [/QUOTE] I recall reading years ago that it’s the suicide rate that pushes up the death rate for law enforcement. This list is about on-the-job fatalities. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/4 "2008-03-09T00:58:35Z")
Fishermen jumped [way out in front](http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/07/pf/2006_most_dangerous_jobs/index.htm) in the most recent list. The one linked in the OP is a couple years old. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Mood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/5 "2008-03-09T07:37:39Z")
It’s interesting that the death rate for pilots is more than three times that for drivers, despite the old adage that flying is safer than driving. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/6 "2008-03-09T16:44:41Z")
If only 2 people do something and one dies, they jump into the lead. % of those that do something are always misleading when compared to the total population of workers… ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/7 "2008-03-09T17:57:18Z")
Hmmm - no IT consultants on there. Seems pretty dangerous some days… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/8 "2008-03-09T18:20:07Z")
Which doper has the most dangerous job? I’ll start with my own. I work with: - explosives - high pressure, toxic, explosive gas - radioactive sources - large, hydraulic machines ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/9 "2008-03-09T18:59:19Z")
[QUOTE=Blue Mood] It’s interesting that the death rate for pilots is more than three times that for drivers, despite the old adage that flying is safer than driving. [/QUOTE] As the linked article explains, this is due almost entirely to crop-dusters and other “industrial” pilots, not scheduled commerical air service. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/10 "2008-03-09T19:31:28Z")
Hmmm… I would have thought that [Mall Security](http://lonelymachines.org/mall-ninjas/) would have been right at the top. ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/11 "2008-03-09T20:16:50Z")
I’ve got two of the top ten. I’m an aircraft pilot (both fixed wing and balloon… Does that mean I go with aircraft pilot x 2?) and during the winter I drive cars and trucks for a living. I’d like to see a more detailed breakdown of the aircraft pilot category. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-dangerous-jobs/440573/12 "2008-03-09T22:00:54Z")
The most dangerous jobs are actually far more mundane. The more miles you drive, the more likely you are to die. Here are some UK figures - [http://www.tuc.org.uk/h\_and\_s/tuc-7946-f0.cfm](http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-7946-f0.cfm) [http://www.dsa.gov.uk/Category.asp?cat=194](http://www.dsa.gov.uk/Category.asp?cat=194) I believe that UK roads are among the safest in the world, and that in France and the US the number of deaths per 100k population is greater, in the US this is likely to be because of greater number of miles driven.