What are some industries that you wouldn't want to work in?

I recently interviewed @ a metal plating company and it didn't look too healthy. There were open vats of toxic chemical everywhere.

As a young guy, I'm wondering if there are some industries that I should avoid. Health is important to me.

depends on the position,

if it is control engineer, control programmer, fine anywhere. If it is maintenance technician, electrician, anywhere no fun at all.
I have seen lots of technicians come and gone during last 2 years in my company, absolutely no fun at all.

david90 said:

I recently interviewed @ a metal plating company and it didn't look too healthy. There were open vats of toxic chemical everywhere.

As a young guy, I'm wondering if there are some industries that I should avoid. Health is important to me.

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david90,

sorry you didn't like the smell and i understand your concerns
regarding health.

chemical plating uses several chemicals to prepare the parts for plating. Yes, the vats were open, and yes the chemicals smell. From my experience, the parts are automatically placed in the vats, moved from vat to vat, prerinsed, and finally rinsed off before plating takes place. everything is monitored per epa standards. the fumes are even sucked into s cleaning system to prevent contamination to property in the surrounding area. these chemicals can and do mess up the paint on cars. i have heard of a plant thst had to repaint over 200 cars because of something they didn't do correctly.

regards,
james

I once worked at a smelting company with 4 plants sinter, acid, furnace and a refinery.
I ended up working in the refinery it was very hot but I didn't mind that. I hated working on the Acid plant so I can relate to what you said about the metal plating industry.

There is no safe chemical -- there are safe ways to work with them.

Two examples
1. Water - stick your head in a bucket of water for five minutes. In addition you can get burned from hot water or really burned from steam or even better a rupture of a high temp high pressure vessel.
2. Oxygen - is NOT flammable despite the media - however flammables around oxygen and look out - your hair can ignite at around 25% oxygen. Two other hazards with oxygen - not enough and you pass out -- too much and you stop breathing which is why when you are exited and hyperventilate they have you breathe in a paper bag.

I personally would avoid plating plants in general - it can be done safely but it is so competitive management cuts back on safety stuff.

I would avoid coal shaft mining period. Pneumoconiosis (black lung) cave ins explosions and other minor incidents.

Medicine -- best place to get sick is around sick people.

So if you are that concerned do not get out of bed. However this has implications also - bedsores, lack of exercise, and starvation due to poverty.

I think the moral of the story is
YOU are as safe as YOU desire.
You have the right to refuse to do an unsafe job by Federal law.
Know what chemicals you have and most important how to handle them safely.

Dan Bentler

arkyny said:

Dan, can we be any bolder than you were here? Chemicals are safe when used properly. Even plutonium, yet dangerous, is safely handled every day with hardly zero mishaps, except by idiots in other couries that have no idea what they deal with. Just sayin

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Gee I thought that is exactly what I summarized in my first statment.

"There is no safe chemical -- there are safe ways to work with them"

As Paracelsus (-2 SP) said in circa 1500
"the dose is the poison"

Just a few things I picked up in two years US Navy Nuclear Power Training and 4 years submarine service not to count a MS in Industrial Hygiene and Safety.

Dan Bentler

Wow

arkyny said:

Dan, can we be any bolder than you were here? Chemicals are safe when used properly. Even plutonium, yet dangerous, is safely handled every day with hardly zero mishaps, except by idiots in other couries that have no idea what they deal with. Just sayin

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There are plenty of idiots in this country who I wouldn't want to work around either. Just sayin'

The real problem is that sometimes I am that idiot. It only takes a second to make some careless assumptions and, in an otherwise safe facility like a commercial office building, I've come into contact with lethal voltages.

Experienced people in controls, power, and maintenance, (I suppose chemicals too!) keep asking themselves why thy are doing what they are doing and how it might be dangerous. You can't trust yourself. Ask yourself the hard question once in a while.

DickDV said:

The real problem is that sometimes I am that idiot. It only takes a second to make some careless assumptions and, in an otherwise safe facility like a commercial office building, I've come into contact with lethal voltages.

Experienced people in controls, power, and maintenance, (I suppose chemicals too!) keep asking themselves why thy are doing what they are doing and how it might be dangerous. You can't trust yourself. Ask yourself the hard question once in a while.

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I couldn't agree more. Even though one may think we live in the land of enlightenment when it comes to Industrial Safety, with OSHA and PPE and stacks and stacks of Code literature, you can't rely on these things to protect you. As I've always been taught, the best tool in your bag, and the best piece of protective equipment, is your own brain.

I've only worked extensively in the plastics industry, but I imagine that obviously some industries are inherently more dangerous than others, but I also don't believe that any industrial setting, especially if you are doing electrical work, is inherently "safe". Or maybe a better word is "idiot-proof". It doesn't matter what factory you are working in, if you start believing that you are perfectly safe, and that it's only the poor saps in some 3rd world country who have to worry about industrial accidents, then you are in trouble.

I think the converse is also true. If you don't get complacent in your job, and are always aware of what you are doing and diligent in LOTO/PPE, etc, and you don't let a supervisor pressure into working in an unsafe situation, then I think you can work anywhere safely.

For me it's not "Which Industries would I work in ?" It's "Which People would I refuse to work with ?" I've worked with some people that are just ticking time bombs and I don't want to be any near them when the "siht" hits the fan.....There aren't that many in my "black ball list" but an attitude of "oh well looks like I guessed wrong" usually gets a mention

What I want to understand is why do mistakes happen in the timeframe of microseconds and with no thinking or effort.

And why do I have to clean up my own mess??

Yet it seems sometimes hours to stay safe and effort.

I also want a housekeeper to sweep up after me and to watch where that dang washer rolled across the floor and most important where it stopped. I am tired of that.

It is going to be so nice when I stop this human mistake **** and become perfect.

Dan Bentler

A Chinese metalworking plant:skuller:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd3OuWrvQz0

Any where joining a union may be required.

I don't think there is any industry that is safe, I've done some work in most of them. As has been mentioned, there are safe ways to work in these industries, but ultimately it is up to you to take care of you. "Your momma don't work here" applies to this as much as it does to the break room. You are going to have to take responsibility and educate yourself about wherever you choose to work.
If you want someplace healthy, find someplace where there are lots of spiders and other bugs...if they don't live in the building you are thinking of working in there is probably a reason why...