Most dangerous job

[Ron Wenrich]

I heard this on the news the other day, and comes from CNN and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

Here are the top 10 most dangerous jobs based on fatalities per 100,000 workers.   I wonder how it would be if you threw injuries in as well.

Timber cutters 117.8
Fishers 71.1
Pilots and navigators 69.8
Structural metal workers 58.2
Drivers-sales workers 37.9
Roofers 37
Electrical power installers 32.5
Farm occupations 28
Construction laborers 27.7
Truck drivers 25

[Jeff]

Squirrel boy posted something about this on the safety board, but I think everybody avoids that board like the plague. I wish they wouldn't.

I'll bet by injury, timber industry is even farther out front and some of those will drop right off the list, like pilots and navigators who usually just die.

[Minnesota_boy]

If you do timber cutting and farming and drive a truck and occasionally re-roof buildings, where does your risk of injury fit on that list?

[Jeff]

We'll be praying for you Minnesota_boy and I'll be needing some information, I'm going to buy an insurance policy...

[Jeff]

That reminds me of something that I have found irritating and a might bit disturbing. Our boss provides some live insurance policies on us. We (me and the other employees) found out that he carries duplicate policies on each of us with him as the beneficiary.

Wonder what he would think if I went in and told him I had one on him? (I don't)

[dtody]

Jeff B,

Back when I did a little insurance, there was a thing called "insurable need," or "insurable relationship."  You just can't buy insurance on someone as owner/beneficiary unless there is a valid reason.  If you were irreplaceable and his business would fail, he might insure you.  Partners often insure each other to buy out the share on ones death.  I'd check out the intent or circumstances a little more.  It might be ok in your state.

Speaking of "risk,"  I posted a link to an article about teens in sawmilling/woodworking on the sawmills page.

[Ron Wenrich]

My wife's an underwriter and she tells me that you can't buy insurance on another person without their knowledge.  You would have had to sign the application and filled out the history.

It is possible to have insurance on key personnel and have your boss as the beneficiary.  I doubt he has that type of insurance on the lumber stackers.

I don't know if I would like that situation.  If your boss fell over, would the company continue or would you guys be left high and dry?

[Jeff]

I think that he has it on me and three other employees and it was done without our knowledge.

If he kicks off I can almost guarantee we are high and dry, but ya know what? I'm o.k. with that
whole scenario.

[DanG]

I see nothing wrong with a company insuring a valued employee as an asset, as that company would suffer a financial hardship if that employee were lost. However, I'm an "up-front" kind of guy, and I tend to expect the people I deal with to be the same way. If they aren't, I don't deal with them anymore. I'd be a little ticked if I found out that was done without my knowledge, but it would be perfectly ok if I was informed of it at the outset.

[Kevin_H.]

Hey man...You can think it, just dont type it.

I've watched NYPD Blue and thats just the kind of statement that can get you in trouble.

[rebocardo]

As for injuries per year, I know the construction business was rated at 1 out of 10 workers every year needing a hospital visit.

[jrdwyer]

A logger in our area recently died when a standing dead tree came back and hit him. This was a freak accident, as the dead tree was not struck by the tree he was felling, rather the movement in the earth was just enough to sway the snag and send it down. He was a very capable logger trained in all aspects of cutting with many years of expereince. I guess he just became a little to complacent or focused on the tree he was cutting and where it would fall, ignoring the snags out of the way. Although I didn't know him personally, I had met him on other timber sales where his company was cutting the timber I marked. This was a small family run logging/sawmilling business and it was a very tragic loss.

[Kevin]

That's tragic but more common than anyone might think.
I take down lots of hangers at work with a weighted throw line.

[Stephen_Wiley]

His death is NOT a reflection upon his skills or complacency. But rather the fact that his environment had unrecognizable hazards which unfortunately resulted in his death.

I have fallen trees for over 30 years, logging, small woodlot, owner of arborist care businesses.  All of these skills and knowledge reduce the risk of injury,but never abates it completely.

Sudden climate changes, soil disturbances, biotic mechanisms are at work, these can and will alter your work zone without your immediate knowledge.

[jrdwyer]

One thing on my mind as a forester concerning this accident is the negative aspect of standing dead trees in a woods. Selective cutting of hardwoods or softwoods in a stand with such trees is definitely a serious danger to the timber cutter no matter how skilled they are.

Maybe the wildlife and timber production benefits of girdling partially cull or wolf trees needs to be given less emphasis if the woods is to be cut in the near future. I know foresters generally give a recommendation to cut down or girdle such trees at any time, because the loggers generally will not touch them for lack of value. On my sales, I don't force a logger to cut trees marked with a C, just give them the option. My hope is that the landowner or myself will perform TSI after the sale. Anyway, I have more respect now for the dangers loggers encounter every day in the woods.

[Ron Wenrich]

What's the "C" stand for?  Cull?  Cut?

i've seen slashes and dots for sawtimber or pulp trees, even leave trees.  Culls are usually marked with an "X" and girdle trees with a "G".

[DanG]

Stephen, you're exactly right about the unrecognizable hazards of just being among the trees. About a year ago, I was driving down the highway, gazing out at the woods and I saw a tree fall over. There was no weather condition that could have caused it. On the return trip, I pulled over and looked at it. It was a Water Oak that appeared perfectly healthy, outwardly, but had a major defect about 3 ft from the ground. The time simply came when gravity overcame the weak stem.  You are probably the least safe from the unknown when you're concentrating on a known danger, such as the tree you're felling.
The closest I have ever come to being crunched by a tree was in my own kitchen.  :-/  You ain't never "safe", no matter where you are.

[David_c]

heres a link to most dangerous jobs.
http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/13/pf/dangerousjobs/index.htm

[jrdwyer]

Ron, I use a big C for cull trees and dots for sound trees to cut. I reserve the X for using over the dots when disputes over the ownership of trees occur and I need to unmark a tree. Thankfully, I don't have to use the X very often. This style of marking is common in Kentucky, where I once worked as a state service forester.

[Sawyerfortyish]

When I cut timber the X tree goes on the ground I can take it or leave it. Usally the spot on the tree means a counted tree for the timber cut. I have also seen the paint slash marking system one slash one 16' log a slash and a half a log and a half two slashes two logs or 32' counted in the tally. You can take as much of the tree as you want. I usally try to utilize most of the tree. I have a firewood processer so I take more than most guys. I don't like it when a logger only takes the first 10 or 12 ' and leaves the rest to rot