Working in the coal mine: Who on God's green earth would do this!

I can't remember the article at the moment, but mining is still safer than farming statistically.

Miners are payed well these days, nobody wants to do it.

 

some people do it because it is the only job in town. Some towns are coal mining towns. There could also be traditions in families where all of the guys work in the mines. But it is very sad what has happened.

 

no, I think mining is actually the most dangerous job to have.

 

Its not a glamourous job, but it has to be done.

 

I know that you say that other than it is the only job in town...for some it really IS the only job in town. These are people that never went to College...some never graduated from High School...that are afforded a well paying job with pretty decent benefits. They are trying to do the best that they can for their families and in some cases following in their father's/uncle's/grandfather's/brother's footsteps. In doing this they are taking the risk that they will suffer the same fate that those lost soles faced earlier this week. They take the same risks that the Alaskan crab fishermen take...they have a horribly dangerous job but gamble that it is worth the risk for the money they are paid.

The track record in the US is bad for coal mine deaths but last year in China over 5,000 coal miners were killed in mine accidents.

 

Farmers made the list... but not miners

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P63405.asp

 

There's worse.

 

like what? working for you?

 

People love working for me. I'm generous to a fault.

 

To work for Darth is to understand Darth, to not understand Darth is pain

 

I read somewhere that offshore fisherman was the most dangerous job in the US.


In college, I came home one night to find one of my housemates' father was repairing an industrial compactor when someone started their shift, and not knowing he was fixing the empty machine, started it up. That was a sad night.

 

That's one of them NOAH!

 

"In fact, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mining industry has the second-highest fatality rate per 100,000 employees. Only the agriculture industry (which includes forestry, fishing and hunting) has a higher rate of death on the job."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10725454/

Some of those guys actually like it. They say it's another world down there. It's has to be safer than being over in Iraq for example.

 

Not to say mining is great for the environment to begin with, but don't you think the environmental cost of Three Mile Island was much more than that of all coal mining.


One of the news stations was saying how high school grads could jump into the coal mining biz and make 45-50k/yr. In the parts of the country where the mines are, the money might be worth the risk.

 

Very...very interesting.

 

I heard working in retirement homes can be very dangerous too (can't forget to put the smiley in).

 

Don't you think your message would be better received here?

 

ultimate truth...

 

there is no need to yell

 

I believe logging and firefighting are up there--but still somewhat below the Alaskan crabbers.

 

Pete -that'd be NUCLEAR power plants Hmmm...is it sorta ironic that I attended New Mexico Institute of MINING and Technology prior to spending years on NUCLEAR submarines (following a whole bunch of nuclear training courtesy of Uncle Sam)?

p.s.: If they had been building any new nuke plants in the US in the last decade or so, I'd probably not be doing what I am today.