Did I tell you about the time when I almost knocked myself out?
I didn’t think so. It is rather embarrassing and very ‘professorial’: I am such a cliché.
Several years back I was invited to a research workshop in Granada. Of course I accepted: Granada is one of my favourite Spanish cities and a private viewing of the Alhambra was part of the deal.
The venue for the workshop was splendid: it was in one of the typical for Granada houses with internal yard and open spaces connecting the different wings of the house. In this case what used to be an open balcony was closed with glass ‘walls’ and used as a library.
We were in a room off the library. When we got into the room and I looked at the programme again, it turn out I’m not only invited to speak; I was opening the workshop. Feeling slightly nervous I decided that instead of listening to the ‘housekeeping announcement’ telling people where the toilet is, I’d find it myself so I’ll be ready to give my paper.
I went into the library and couldn’t find signs anywhere; looked to the right and saw the cleaning lady. Being in a hurry, I ran towards the cleaning lady intending to ask where is the toilet.
It is only that I didn’t get to her; I bashed my head in the glass – which I had completely forgotten about – and was having a ‘Tom and Jerry” moment. And very painful, noisy and traumatic it was.
I found the toilet and by the time I went back into the room where the workshop was held I looked like a unicorn: a very pronounced bump was coming up on my forehead.
I started my talk by telling colleagues that if I pass out, it has nothing to do with my research paper and they should phone the hospital.
They didn’t need to take me to the hospital and I didn’t run to the phone and bring Tranter Cleere Accident at Work Solicitors on the case. Although, strictly speaking, this embarrassing experience of mine shows that even university professors can have serious accidents.
I’m on my travels working again and there is so much space for mishaps. ‘Is being a university professor a dangerous occupation?’ – I started thinking.
Since we live in a time of information, I decided to check which are the most dangerous occupations. Here is a list of fifteen dangerous occupations some of which came as a complete surprise. Other
These are the dangerous occupations I was expecting to find:
- Roofer. Spending your time on roofs is obviously dangerous. I still remember watching the guy who did our roof last year, climbing on the roof and straddling the chimney to adjust something. Very disturbing sight for someone with vertigo! Apparently roofers are accident-prone.
- Builders. Apparently the main danger here is that there is a lot that can go wrong: things can fall on you, machinery can malfunction and…well, stuff just happens. One of the guys who worked on our bathroom managed to cut off three of his fingers because the cutting machine slipped.
- Fisherman. This came as a bit of a surprise until I remembered that most commercial fishing is not ‘fly fishing’ but is deep-sea fishing. Apparently, fishing has the highest mortality rate in the US but is not one of the top ten most dangerous occupations in the UK.
- Miner. Mining has always been known as a very dangerous occupation. There is use of machinery, some of it is underground and other varieties of mining use harmful chemicals and/or are carried out in very bad working conditions.
- Private detective. This is obviously a high-risk occupation.
- Fireman. Again, firemen risk their lives and are often injured while doing their dangerous work.
- Police person. Well, not much to say here. It has long been known that policing is a really dangerous occupation and keeping law and order comes at a very high risk.
- Electrician. Being an electrician is another dangerous occupation. What surprised me was that most accidents are not related to the electricity but to falls.
- Aircraft pilot, engineer and crew. Apparently working on an airplane is great fun when all is well. When things go wrong though it is a very long way down (this one doesn’t happen often but still…).
And here are some dangerous occupations that surprised me:
- Farmer. I always thought of farming as one of the idyllic pursuits, safe and sedate. However, farming is currently a high-risk occupation because of the combination of long hours and the use and operation of heavy machinery.
- Shopkeeper. You wouldn’t think that working in a shop is a risky thing to do, would you? Well, during 2012 and 2013 in the UK about 7,000 injuries were reported of which 1619 ‘major’. Criminal attacks are apparently a major risk.
- Rubbish collector. Apparently ten people died in 2012-13 while collecting and disposing off rubbish. Thing is that the job is seen as unpleasant and unqualified so we don’t think of it as dangerous.
- Teacher. This one is a big surprise. Apparently, education is the most injury prone sector and in 2012-13 some 1,700 non-fatal major injuries were reported.
- Librarian. Unlikely as it may seem, one person was killed in a library in the UK (2012-13) and 48 were seriously injured. Books are heavy things, I suppose.
- Estate Agent. Again, it is hard for me to imagine the risks that being an estate agent involves but according to the statistics (UK) in 2012-13 four people died and 70 reported serious injuries.
So you see, I wasn’t too far off the mark that being a university professor is a high-risk occupation.
Finally…
There are many occupations that are inherently dangerous and the probability of having an accident is high. Some of these are rather surprising: who would have thought, for example, that education is one of the most injury prone occupations in the UK.
Whether your job and workplace are deemed to be dangerous or not has implications for your decisions regarding the type of insurance you take out and the level of this insurance.
Another reason it matters whether your job and workplace are inherently dangerous or not is that in dangerous environments liability for an accident is difficult to assign. If you are a miner and have an accident this is very likely a combination of a multiplicity of factors. Hence, whether or not you are entitled to compensation is a non-trivial matter that may need the assistance of a solicitor specialising in accidents at work.
Have you had an accident at work? Do you have a dangerous job? Do share!
photo credit: ЯAFIK ♋ BERLIN via photopin cc
My husband is a carpenter which is a dangerous job for sure. He has injured himself more than once, but the worst being knocking his front teeth out with a hammer. He needed a bone graft and everything. It was awful. I work in an office so we have a different type of injury and risk.
@Daisy: Thanks for sharing, Daisy. Yeah, the risks are different but accidents do happen. In fact, I remember that in one of Kurt Vonnegut novels, someone said about an office that ‘one can die in about a thousands ways depending on where one steps’. Sounds like John’s office :).
Not surprising to see trades at the top of the list as falling from a height is often sited as the most common workplace injury. Certainly surprised to see estate agents and librarians though!