Everyone needs a job to survive but not all
jobs are created equal. On one hand you have the safety and comfort
of an office. On the other hand, there are some jobs where
a bad day at the office means you don’t come home in one piece... or at all. Jobs so risky that employers have to pump
salaries up to ridiculous levels to entice anyone brave enough to turn up to work. Want to find out the jobs where a papercut
is the least of your worries? Let’s get it on. SMOKEJUMPER
Smokejumpers are the elite when it comes to firefighting. They’re like the Special Forces going behind
enemy lines and deep into hostile territory. Wilderness bushfires don’t have the luxury
of sealed roads and hydrants in the street to tap into for an endless supply of water. Remote locations are too treacherous to get
to in any form of vehicle, let alone a fire engine. This is where smokejumpers come in. These guys are the bravest of the brave, who
approach the out of control blaze in the wilderness by helicopter, then decide it’s a great
idea to jump out and parachute right into the heart of the beast. Getting to the fire before it becomes dangerous
to people and homes means that firefighting supplies, food, and water are dropped in to
enable the smokejumpers to set up temporary camps and spend the next 48 hours all alone
to manage the inferno. SKYSCRAPER WINDOW WASHER
A window washer doesn’t seem like a dangerous job at first. A ladder, a hose, and a squeegee with a long
pole is all that’s needed 99% of the time. For the other 1%, you need an expert. As society feels the need to build larger
and larger buildings and skyscrapers, a niche has formed for those who want to take a walk
on the wild side – and get paid for doing it. Specialist window washers only deal in towers
and skyscrapers, having to hang hundreds of feet in the air just so you can have an uninterrupted,
smudge free view out your office window. They ascend huge skyscrapers, head out onto
the roof, and abseil down the side of the building. Harnesses, ropes, helmets, and purpose-built
platforms are needed to keep them safe while they struggle to stay attached while strong
winds push them from side to side. LINEMEN
While their name might not be too familiar to you, linemen are actually some of the most
important people in your day to day life. As a matter of fact, you couldn't be watching
this video right now if it weren't for your local linemen. These brave men and women work to make sure
that electricity continues flowing all over the grid, and are first on the scene when
service is somehow interrupted, like when a tree falls
on a powerline. As crazy as it sounds, they have to
actually fix the live wires by hand, with not much more than some insulated rubber gloves
between then and one point twenty one giga volts straight to the heart. For decades, lineman
has consistently ranked as one of the top ten deadliest jobs in the US, and it's not
hard to see why; electricity is nothing to play around
with. One wrong move and its lights out. Thankfully, these courageous workers are compensated
pretty well, making on average 73 thousand dollars a year, plus some serious benefit
packages. Still, no amount of money is worth your life,
so you've really gotta have nerves of steel to take on being a lineman. ICEFALL DOCTOR
Icefall doctors haven’t been to medical school, but they are still responsible for
saving hundreds of lives each year in the Khumbu icefall on Mount Everest. They are native Sherpas who are at the top
of their game, men who know the summit back to front, and inside out. They are tasked with carving out routes between
base camp and camps one through to four much higher up towards the peak. Khumbu icefall is regarded as the most treacherous
and unsafe section on the whole expedition, as the ice could crack and break at any time
causing climbers to fall to their deaths. The ice has less chance to break at night
when the temperature is much colder, so the Sherpas carry equipment though the section
at 2am in the morning to prep the upper camps ahead of the rest of the party. The icefall doctors spend up to 75 days a
year in this frozen, snowy nightmare. LUMBERJACK
Being a lumberjack is so much more than wearing red checkered shirts, sporting luscious beards,
and downing short stacks dripping with maple syrup. The reality is that this is America’s most
dangerous job, more people die every year cutting down trees than any other profession. These men and women of the woods need to maintain
ultimate concentration as a falling tree in the wrong direction could end up making them
as flat as the pancakes they hold so dear. Cables holding trunks and branches are prone
to suddenly snapping, sending chunks of tree spiralling out of control, impaling those
souls unfortunate enough to be standing nearby. Having the blade of a chainsaw get stuck into
a tree can cause the equipment to kick the lumberjack around so fiercely that they slam
into the tree hard enough to cause serious, career ending spinal injuries. Take on this career if you dear... ENTOMOLOGIST
Entomologists love to study bugs, and when you think about it, they are the true unsung
heroes of the working class. Most of us get the heebie jeebies at the thought
of having anything small with too many legs touching our skin. These guys are prepared to have insects crawl
all over them in the name of research and science, so that the average Joe doesn’t
have to. Some have been stung more than 1,000 times
over the course of their careers creating a pain scale that ranges from mildly annoying,
to so excruciatingly painful that you lose the ability to function and think rationally,
and even pass out. We salute any brave soul who chooses to get
covered in a suit of swarming bees and envenomated as their life’s work, putting their health
and lives on the line so that we don’t have to. PRODUCT TESTER
Anyone who tests new products aimed at preventing someone from dying are essentially putting
their own lives in someone else’s hands. It takes a special kind of nutcase to walk
through a field of live land mines and explosives, in a bomb proof suit just to see if it will
work. Having an attacker armed with a knife try
to bury it deep into your chest through a stab proof vest would be absolutely unnerving,
and fatal if something goes horribly wrong. Bridges are meant to be made of timber, steel,
concrete – or a combination of all three. You generally want to use materials that are
robust enough to take enormous weight and be stable as they span long distances. Glass isn’t a material that comes to mind
when you hear the word bridge, and the guys that test these architectural masterpieces
dance with the devil with every step onto virgin glazed panels. LIFEGUARD
Baywatch fed us a lie growing up. Protecting the beach is more than chiselled
abs, skimpy bikinis, and slow-motion action shots of beauties running along the sand. The lifeguards in charge of the Seven Mile
Miracle on Oahu’s North Shore in Hawaii know all too well that they dance with the
devil when they venture out into what is the most dangerous series of surf breaks in the
world. From an outsider’s perspective, the deep
azure blue ocean, white sand and picturesque barrels look like an absolute paradise. The reality is that over 1,000 rescues are
performed here each year, sometimes more than 30 in a day. These lifeguards put their life on the line
every time they head out to save anyone unlucky enough to get into trouble here. Strong rip currents, huge waves, and shallow
coral regularly cause serious injury and death. WIND TURBINE TECHNICIAN
As the planet warms up from greenhouse emissions, alternative energy sources are becoming more
and more common – with wind turbines proving a handy producer of power by harnessing nature’s
atmospheric fury. Like any machinery, these turbines can sometimes
break down, and require a specially trained technician to get them back to working order. Repairing the blades and motor require a unique
combination of construction experience, rock climbing, and engineering know-how. Climbing up to the top of 350-foot-high turbines
requires nerves of steel, a high level of physical fitness, and being able to feel completely
at home at some seriously high altitudes. The job is made that much harder by the fact
that these areas experience high winds and lightning strikes. Straddling a blade during a repair is exactly
like trying to keep a hold of a bucking bull at a rodeo, those that don’t hold on tight
end up falling off. GARDENER
At first glance, there seems to be very little in the average back garden that could be labelled
as even remotely dangerous. That is, unless your name is Dean Smith and
you work at the infamous poison garden in sunny old England. The heavy wrought-iron gates serve as a warning
and are designed to keep people out. Why? Well every plant here is harmful to humans. Anything from causing you to break out in
a rash, get itchy all over, have you running to find the nearest toilet – and in a few
cases, you could potentially wind up dead. There are over 100 species in this collection
and despite some being truly beautiful, don’t be fooled – they contain powerful toxins
fatal to humans. Gardeners here warn you to not stop and smell
the flowers. Even professionals don’t dare venture too
close without protective gloves and a mask.
