Getting ready for a new career as a truck driver or a vet? Well, you might want to think again because I’m going to spend the next 800 words scaring you away from these professions. Everyone knows that there is an element of risk as a race car driver, a law enforcement office or a solider, but there are many more seemingly innocent jobs where your life can also end earlier than expected.
Truck Drivers
Truck driving is one of the deadliest jobs in America., and not just because of all the serial killer hitchhikers waiting on those long, empty American roads. It is also one of the most dangerous jobs in Australia, where thousands of injuries and dozens of deaths have been recorded in this sparsely populated country.
The main risk for truck drivers is crashes. These drivers command a huge mechanical weapon at all hours of the day and though all kinds of weather. It only takes a little fatigue or a little carelessness for them to lose control and kill themselves, as well as anyone standing in the truck’s way.
Diabetes, high blood pressure and other diseases that come with long periods of sedentary activity are also common.
Garbage Men
In the UK, where garbage men are known as “Bin Men,” there are around ten deaths on the job in a single year. In the US, this number is 30+. It seems like collecting human waste is a dangerous job, as well as being an incredibly unpleasant one. Deaths can occur from accidents with the truck and on the road, as well as incidents with toxic waste.
Shopkeeper
In the UK, where guns are illegal and as rare as an Englishman that hates tea, there are thousand of injuries reported by shopkeepers every year. In 2012, over 1600 of these were considered “Serious.” Many of these come from robberies, but there are also slips, falls and falling boxes of stock. In the US, where guns are treated as must-have accessories, these numbers are much higher, as are the number of shopkeepers that die on the job every year.
They work minimum wage, deal with annoying customers and at the end of the day they die in a pool of their own blood for the sake of a few bucks and a handful of cigarettes. It doesn’t get much more depressing than that, does it?
Teacher
This one should need no introduction, because children are evil. We all know that and anyone who says otherwise is either kidding themselves or being held captive by heir own demonic offspring.
Say no more.
Vets
Vets are said to be some of the most depressed people in the world. They get into this profession because they want to help animals and they spend their time putting them to sleep and dealing with abusive and neglectful owners. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why this field accounts for so many on-the-job deaths around the world.
In fact, in the US vets accounted for 11% of all on-the-job deaths. Of course, bites from diseased animals and kicks from aggressive horses probably have something to do with that as well. But unless vets in the US are tasked with cleaning alligator teeth, removing tiger tonsils and castrating bears without anesthetic then I doubt the animals are to blame all of the time.
Hikers, Climbers, Scout Leaders
Anyone that knows me will insist I’m making this up just because I hate leaving the house and treat the Great Outdoors like a malevolent beast trying to murder me at every turn, but … a large number of hikers, climbers and even campers die every single year. So, scout leaders beware, because even these big, new-fangled tents made to accommodate a small army (see here) can not stop you from the grasp of the Grim Reaper.
Over a hundred climbers die every year doing the thing they love (because nothing beats going face-first with rock 500 feet in the air). What’s more, if you’re in the US then you’re exposed to all kinds of murderous wild animals. Snakes and scorpions, also known as the things that could very easily creep into your tent at night, are responsible for a combined 55,000 deaths a year. And that doesn’t even include spiders, because if I do that research I won’t get any sleep tonight.
Then you have bears, mountain lions, stampeding horses/cows, killer ants and wasps, and all kinds of other murderous creatures. It’s amazing any of you are still alive.
