The Most Dangerous Jobs In The World: Firefighters vs. Deadliest Catch

[x635 4,066]

Interesting article.

Last night, I watched the season premiere of the Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel. I used to watch the show religiously, but over the past couple of years I had discontinued watching it. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but Deadliest Catch always seemed to capture my attention. Billed by some as the most dangerous job in the world, how could firefighters not be impressed.

In the 2 hour episode last night, the crab boat “Western Venture” caught fire. It had me thinking about how similar their jobs are to ours. Firefighting is often billed by some as the most dangerous job in the world too. I am not here to debate which job is more dangerous, just simply compare the two of some similarities.

Let’s start with what brought this entire comparison to mind… Comparing the crews on Deadliest Catch to that of firefighters operating at a fire.

Full article: http://www.firecritic.com/2014/04/23/dangerous-jobs-world-deadliest-catch-vs-firefighters/

[dwcfireman 656]

It's always been interesting to me how anyone could decide who has the most dangerous job in the world. Firefighters run into burning buildings, fishermen battle the high seas, iron workers are balancing multiple stories above the ground, roughnecks are pushing heavy machinery deep to the ocean floor.... Who really does have the most dangerous job? There are so many dangers to be aware of in any profession. Heck, working in airport operations I've almost been chopped up by propellor planes on multiple occasions (special thanks to the many "skilled" pilots who played their roles in those incidents).

Don't quote me on this, but I remember from somewhere in the past (probably Discovery Channel or TLC) that the 'most dangerous job' is determined by the number of injuries and fatalities that occur in each profession every year, vetted amongst the situations and conditions that those professionals face on a regular basis. It's a little vague in the old memory bank, but this sounds close to whatever the documentary said.

[paratrooper75 41]

Statistically firefighting isn't even close. Not to say its not dangerous but lets face it, you're not running in to burning buildings everyday.

[nhfd241 4]

Statistically firefighting isn't even close. Not to say its not dangerous but lets face it, you're not running in to burning buildings everyday.

But there not fishing on the Bearing Sea every day of the year either

Edited April 23, 2014 by nhfd241

[paratrooper75 41]

But there not fishing on the Bearing Sea every day of the year either

True, which makes their death rate that much more substantial. They lost 32 fisherman in a recent year. When you factor in the amount of commercial fisherman currently working in the US that puts them at a fatality rate of 1 in 835 workers . Firefighting on the other had lost 107 firefighters in a recent year. With over 1.2 million firefighters in the US that equates to roughly 1 in 11,000. So like I stated before, statistically they are very far apart. That said, firefighting in my eyes is still dangerous just not on a scale that would be comparable.

Edited April 23, 2014 by paratrooper75

[John F Bendick 3]

When was the last time you told the dispatcher your company wasn't responding becacuse of weather conditions? Almost all of those other jobs can be suspended when weather condition are unfavorable.
Think about when material is falling off a highrise in the middle of the night or a sand hog is trapped in the hole who is the first on the scene to help. All these jobs are important Working together we all can make this a better world.

[Jybehofd 85]

well once you get off the coast about 200 miles all bets of a "fast rescue" are gone. Going to sea makes things that are normally ok or simple to deal with at times spin into something very catastrophic. take a broken finger. not properly set, no x-ray and about a week until you can put in or get someone out there to get the person off. in that time they can through a clot and have a stroke depending on there age. I have sailed with many people over the age of 50, some very good sailors.

I have been on the receiving end where they couldn't send a medivac out to pick up a patient who was scalped because she lost her footing on deck. we were in 25 foot seas with a 40kts sustained wind (about 50mph) gust were higher. we treated the best we could, and waited 32hrs for the weather to break so we could put into port.

Im not knocking the fire service, yes its dangerous, and there are more dangerous jobs then fishing or working deep sea. The oil industry has a high injury rate too. Anywhere you mix humans and heavy equipment and then add some bad weather you will have injuries and fatalities. I wonder if OSHA publishes which industry or profession has the highest injury rates.

[bad box 371]

Statistically firefighting isn't even close. Not to say its not dangerous but lets face it, you're not running in to burning buildings everyday.

We did when I was on the job ... Frequently it occurred several times or more per shift. And Firefighters are at risk in many other types of circumstances in addition to entering burning buildings. I'm not saying who has the most dangerous occupation, just stating some facts.

[MPG1 48]

Have you ever been on a flight deck during flight quarters (US NAVY)...Now that's both fun and dangerous! NOTHING COMPARES!

[fire2141 33]

Have you ever been on a flight deck during flight quarters (US NAVY)...Now that's both fun and dangerous! NOTHING COMPARES!

Been there done that (USS Forrestal 79-81). As any carrier sailor knows, you do you share of firefighting on board as well, especially on the flight deck. Always on your toes being vigilant of everything and I mean everything that's going on around you. Complacency kills, as it does in firefighting as well.

[Officer Ed 59]

the 'most dangerous job' is determined by the number of injuries and fatalities that occur in each profession every year, vetted amongst the situations and conditions that those professionals face on a regular basis.

I disagree. The most "danger" in a job does not necessarily extrapolate to the most injuries and deaths. Sky diving is more "dangerous" than driving a cab, but due to the precautions sky divers take, cab drivers have more injuries and deaths.

On another site, someone cited statistics showing that murders of police officer had dropped. He extrapolated that to mean that the job had become less dangerous. I can attest that the job of police officer is far MORE dangerous than it's ever been, but new training and "officer safety" procedures have allowed more officers to face that danger and avoid being killed. I can think of at least four occasions when, but for my using those procedures, I would most likely have been shot.

So, the job of firefighter is as dangerous as ever. But new procedures and safety equipment have gone a long way to mitigate that danger. Is it as "dangerous" as crabbing? I don't know how you could accurately measure that.

[TimesUp 148]

Burglars and other criminals should be known for having the most dangerous jobs. Even though it's not quite the definition of "JOB" Maybe one day the statistics will reflect this.

[JackEMT 77]

I think the show title takes some artistic license. I think I remember a statistic on the show where the injury rate on the job is 100%. Meaning if you are a king crab fisherman, you will get injured on the job, not a matter of "if" it is "when". I forget the fatality rate, but it was scary high.

[EMT-7035 4]

We did when I was on the job ... Frequently it occurred several times or more per shift. And Firefighters are at risk in many other types of circumstances in addition to entering burning buildings. I'm not saying who has the most dangerous occupation, just stating some facts.

Going along with that, the #1 cause of line of duty deaths is not necessarily from traumas/burns, but due to the health issues (mostly cardiac related) that seem to statistically go along with the job, as has been beaten into our heads in any fire class. I'd be curious to see what the leading causes of deaths are in other "dangerous" occupations.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

As always I'm going to pour some gasoline on this one...

Law Enforcement 2012 Line of Duty Deaths: 125

9/11 Related Illness: 4

Aircraft Accident: 3

Assault: 1

Automobile Accident: 22

Duty Related Illness: 3

Fall: 2

Gunfire: 48

Gunfire (Accidental): 2

Heart Attack: 6

Heat Exhaustion: 1

Motorcycle Accident: 5

Stabbed: 5

Struck By Vehicle: 6

Training Accident: 1

Vehicle Pursuit: 5

Vehicular Assault: 11

Source: National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial Fund

Fire Service 2012 Line of Duty Deaths: 81

Stress/Overexertion: 39

Heat Exhaustion: 2

Vehicle Collision (Motor Vehicle:) 12

Airplane Crash: 6

Lost and Disoriented: 0

Collapse: 4

Shooting: 2

Struck by Vehicle: 3

Struck by Object: 2

Fall: 1

Drowning: 1

Other Illness: 3

Source: US Fire Administration

*Note: I broke out some of the statistics on the fire side to make them better match some of the LE ones. I'd also argue there were probably some 9/11 related deaths not included for whatever reason*

National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial Fund lists over 900,000 sworn Law Enforcement Officers in the United States.

US Fire Administration lists about 1.2 million Firefighters in the United States.

Granted, this information is a snapshot based only on one year of data (I don't have the time right now to do a full statistical analysis,) and also doesn't include Line of Duty Injuries but at least in 2012:

~.01389% of the LEOs serving in the US were killed in the Line of Duty

~.00675 of Firefighters serving in the US were killed in the Line of Duty

Edited April 28, 2014 by SageVigiles