Ever had a dangerous job?

[eroc613]

I was thinking about how people react to different things in life, and it got me to thinking about how nothing really bothers me. And I think it has alot to do with the jobs I've had.

I started out washing ou the inside of water towers, 150+ ft in the air, and progressed to starting my own company, and beginning to Sand Blast the enitre structure of the water towers. Doing this kind on work is like a double edge sword. First danger is, your hanging off the side of a water tank by a small cable no bigger than your pinky, or a rope attached to pulleys. Second danger, the sand balsting. (I had a employee run the sand blaster across a finger, and it exploded it. It was so bad they had to saw the bone to shorten the finger to reattach the tendons and ligaments, and it only took a split second.)

When you wake up everyday, and your in a constant state of "self perservation", I think it changes how you veiw things in life.
I'm sure guys that have been in real life threatening combat feel similiar.

 

[bighurt]

construction engineer for industrial construction.
I build refineries.
Same scenerio, 200ft in the air, walking on a small beam with little harness and cheaters. Walking long runs of pipe way off the ground, heavy equipment flying over head. Fun stuff. I enjoy it.

how is the sand blasting business treating you?

 

[Dionysusedge]

I use to do smoke stack emissions testing at the Chevron Refinery just outside of LAX airport. Would be on a stack for anywhere from 8-20 hours doing testing.

Up anywhere from 20' to 200' on a catwalk.

Had to run a ice chiller up there while plugged into 480 volt.

Had some hairy experiences up there, and i dont miss it.

Dont miss the heights, dont miss the yellow coke dust from the cokers, and i dont miss the LONG days and nights.

 

[eroc613]

construction engineer for industrial construction.
I build refineries.
Same scenerio, 200ft in the air, walking on a small beam with little harness and cheaters. Walking long runs of pipe way off the ground, heavy equipment flying over head. Fun stuff. I enjoy it.

how is the sand blasting business treating you?

Quit doing the water towers years ago, moved on to shipyard for a couple of years, but it was on Navy Ships, so the safety standards were pretty high. But in the 2 years I worked out there 3 civilains and 2 Navy guys were killed doing ship repair.

Now I'm in college. Don't miss 70+ hours a week for years on end. DOn't think I've ever had a job that I worked 40 hours a week.

 

[waynaferd]

I work for an environmental company that also has an industrial services branch, so I run all the hi-powered vacuum trucks (cuscos, guzzlers, pres-vacs), and also 40K hydro blasters mounted on a flatbed, with its own 6 cyl diesel and 5 speed tranny With abrasives added it'll cut thru stainless steel, with ease.

I've been in nasty 6 oil tanks, acid and caustic tanks, inside the big boilers at power stations, sea tunnels, ship bilges, basements filled with sewage (yum), currently cleaning heating oil out of a brook.....

So yeah I get to work with dangerous stuff (for me and others), but the novelty wore off a couple years, and now I'm ready for greener pastures, LOL!! But I will say, we're all a pretty close bunch of guys!!

 

[terraj]

Inspecting above ground fuel tank roofs, 30 mile an hour winds, steps and roof covered in ice.

Inspecting pipelines in tunnels, pitch black, spiders everywhere and NO space to move, really not suited to my build.....

 

[sgtedrobinson]

I was an Ironworker for 30 years in Philadelphia and North Jersey. I worked any where from ten feet to 65 stories. Some times walking on beams no wider then your foot.

 

[myosin]

Kind of

I haven't had a job where my Life has been threatened, but one where others lives are threatened so I still get your point about things not getting to you as much... Ive been a charge nurse working with kids from babies to teens that have cardiac surgery, brain injuries, on ECMO, etc.... In one sense, u always get nervous in a code, but if i can say this, i am always the most "cool" one there.... Keep your calm, think straight, and well, just do it... I can take everything in happening all around me and still direct and function in a very "phlegmatic" way. These kids can literally go any moment sometimes (they crash ALOOOT faster than adults) but if your are a spaz, it will only slow your reaction and hurt the patient.... Couple weeks ago a child had heart surgery, was recovering great, all of a sudden he threw a clot, seized and started to crash hard... I spent LITERALLY two hours doing chest compressions on him while the team tried to revive him and get him on ECMO.... all the while i still had to direct others... We got him back, but he died the next day....

 

[maldorf]

I haven't had a job where my Life has been threatened, but one where others lives are threatened so I still get your point about things not getting to you as much... Ive been a charge nurse working with kids from babies to teens that have cardiac surgery, brain injuries, on ECMO, etc.... In one sense, u always get nervous in a code, but if i can say this, i am always the most "cool" one there.... Keep your calm, think straight, and well, just do it... I can take everything in happening all around me and still direct and function in a very "phlegmatic" way. These kids can literally go any moment sometimes (they crash ALOOOT faster than adults) but if your are a spaz, it will only slow your reaction and hurt the patient.... Couple weeks ago a child had heart surgery, was recovering great, all of a sudden he threw a clot, seized and started to crash hard... I spent LITERALLY two hours doing chest compressions on him while the team tried to revive him and get him on ECMO.... all the while i still had to direct others... We got him back, but he died the next day....

That must be very hard losing a patient like that. have you ever got to know a patient really well only to lose them later on?

I did autopsies for awhile when I was in college. My uncle was a pathologist and coroner. It was very hard mentally on me seeing dead people like that. Cutting up a cadavar is easy, but doing a person in an autopsy is hard because they are still fully clothed, carry ID, etc. They are more like real people wheras a cadavar at the medical school is more like a specimen. my first autopsy was a young 21 year old girl that was hit by a train. I had nightmares for a few weeks after that one.

 

[myosin]

Yes...

That must be very hard losing a patient like that. have you ever got to know a patient really well only to lose them later on?

I did autopsies for awhile when I was in college. My uncle was a pathologist and coroner. It was very hard mentally on me seeing dead people like that. Cutting up a cadavar is easy, but doing a person in an autopsy is hard because they are still fully clothed, carry ID, etc. They are more like real people wheras a cadavar at the medical school is more like a specimen. my first autopsy was a young 21 year old girl that was hit by a train. I had nightmares for a few weeks after that one.

Yes, there a have been a few patients that would be in the unit for a couple months sometimes, just "surviving"... Sometimes end up crashing, other times, the parents had to withdraw support... Both are equally hard to watch, at least with the latter the family has time to say goodbye... Putting them in the body bag after and zipping it up, wow, the worst thing. Gone to a couple of their funerals... Sucks man....HARD... but, thankfully, we have seen more success stories than loss.

Thats interesting about your experience, makes a lot of sense.

 

[maldorf]

Yes, there a have been a few patients that would be in the unit for a couple months sometimes, just "surviving"... Sometimes end up crashing, other times, the parents had to withdraw support... Both are equally hard to watch, at least with the latter the family has time to say goodbye... Putting them in the body bag after and zipping it up, wow, the worst thing. Gone to a couple of their funerals... Sucks man....HARD... but, thankfully, we have seen more success stories than loss.

Thats interesting about your experience, makes a lot of sense.

I totally understand the body bag causing you problems. One of the hardest things for me to do was take all of the person's belongings and put them into a garbage bag. The hospital would then give the bag to the family. I would hate to be the person that had to hand the bag over.

Another thing that freaked me out was how we put all of the organs back in a plastic bag and then sealed that up in the person's body cavity. I figured we would put the brain back in the skull, but he had me put it in the bag inside their thorax/abdomen.

 

[Hulk0311]

USMC Infantry for 8 years during iraqi freedom and enduring freedom. I lucked out though and made it home in once piece every time but have a few burn scars that remind me every day that life is short and your ticket could get called at any time! funy thing is I would much rather go on patrol than be suspended in the air like you guys working on machinery, that is crazy! Its amazing how many dangerous jobs are out there that no one knows about.

 

[myosin]

Thank You

USMC Infantry for 8 years during iraqi freedom and enduring freedom. I lucked out though and made it home in once piece every time but have a few burn scars that remind me every day that life is short and your ticket could get called at any time! funy thing is I would much rather go on patrol than be suspended in the air like you guys working on machinery, that is crazy! Its amazing how many dangerous jobs are out there that no one knows about.

All it takes for evil to triumph is for a few good men to do nothing... Churchill was one of the very first to warn about Hitler and something should be done before he got too much power... No one listened until it almost too late.

My point is- I know it's a controversial subject, but thank you for your service, its amazing what you go through.

 

[maldorf]

USMC Infantry for 8 years during iraqi freedom and enduring freedom. I lucked out though and made it home in once piece every time but have a few burn scars that remind me every day that life is short and your ticket could get called at any time! funy thing is I would much rather go on patrol than be suspended in the air like you guys working on machinery, that is crazy! Its amazing how many dangerous jobs are out there that no one knows about.

One of my wife's friends lost her husband over in Afghanistan to a IED. He was a bomb tech and they were out looking for them to disarm them I guess. Somehow someone screwed up and had them walk into an area that was thought to have been previously cleared but it was not. The bomb blew up when he was standing over it.

 

[lexxdiamons]

I have endless respect for you guys hanging off towers, walking beams and fighting in wars....I complain when I'm stuck in traffic doing my sales job....puts things in prospective.

 

[Monossi]

Have had one for a while now.
Your right , it does effect your mentality & how you perceive different things. Sometimes I'll laugh at things that others get upset with me for laughing at...... other-times there are things that I take extremely seriously that others shrug off.
Now I'm in no way saying go out & be reckless...... but life is short. To short to be worrying about what may or may not happen here in the near future. If anything , me working these kinds of jobs ie.. USMC 1rst Mar Div Infantry, 2 different P.M.C.'s , Oilfield Diving/Commercial Diving has given me a gift.
The ability to appreciate life for what it is & not take it for granted.

There are LOTS of instances where death comes swimming by me in one way or another, he's always there.......I just smile & wave because if he decides its my time then its my time, but I'll die with no regrets , content knowing that I always did my best no matter what & that whats really important - my family knew that I loved them before I left.

I can't believe I just typed all this out........... sorry guys

 

[D BO]

U.S Army Vet, yes it does change the way you treat your life and look at life I believe. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse but those experiences made me who I am today and I am A Ok with that. Like Tim says I hope someday you get the chance to live like you were dieing.

 

[D BO]

Have had one for a while now.
Your right , it does effect your mentality & how you perceive different things. Sometimes I'll laugh at things that others get upset with me for laughing at...... other-times there are things that I take extremely seriously that others shrug off.
Now I'm in no way saying go out & be reckless...... but life is short. To short to be worrying about what may or may not happen here in the near future. If anything , me working these kinds of jobs ie.. USMC 1rst Mar Div Infantry, 2 different P.M.C.'s , Oilfield Diving/Commercial Diving has given me a gift.
The ability to appreciate life for what it is & not take it for granted.

There are LOTS of instances where death comes swimming by me in one way or another, he's always there.......I just smile & wave because if he decides its my time then its my time, but I'll die with no regrets , content knowing that I always did my best no matter what & that whats really important - my family knew that I loved them before I left.

I can't believe I just typed all this out........... sorry guys

Thats what its all about though being able to be free enough to know you can die today and have no regrets. You said everything you needed to, to everyone you loved and learned, loved and laughed all you could in the time you were given. Makes it a lot easier to get out there and do those hairy jobs.

 

[N623]

6 years US Army Special Forces
Bridge builder in the midwest
Now 25 years in medicine rotating Peds ICU, Neonatal ICU, ER and Trauma ICU

You tend to shut alot down, I guess without thinking about it.

Nice dark sense of humor too

I'm a hardcase on the outside, but gooey on the inside.

 

[greenpatch]

tree climber cutting trees down,whew had some fun ther.now i,m a scaffold builder last year while taking one down someone just drop a part down like 60 feet r so,well it hit this one guy in th finger and busted open ,it look like a hotdog tht been cooked for to long ,it was split open and swellen up bad.never want to see tht ever again, he now missing th tip of his finger,it was on a power plant,and since he had thc on his blood work he get nothing for it.