The toughest blue-collar careers most people never see

From construction workers to sanitation workers, there are some blue-collar careers you can see every day, while other dangerous jobs, like telecommunications tower climbers, are often out of your view. Other highly specialized and dangerous work includes saturation divers and offshore oil rig workers who help make the world run in secret.

2023 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that hourly wages are among the highest for construction and extraction union workers in the New York/New Jersey area. However, specializations in unseen tough jobs on places like oil rigs can pay even higher.

Overall, these trade jobs are much less expensive to get started in since they don't require a four-year university education.

What Vital Blue-collar Jobs Are Operating Below the Radar?

Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, there is an oil rig worker on a platform working 12 or sometimes 16-hour shifts in extreme weather conditions. They may have positions like roughnecks or drillers. They can't leave for weeks, but they also have an equal amount of time off before their next stint.

Another maritime career you don't see is saturation divers. These pros handle repairs on deep-sea pipelines and underwater oil rigs. They go where a remotely operated vehicle can't, often live in pressurized chambers, and work in pitch-black, freezing water.

That yummy seafood dish was brought to you thanks to commercial fishermen who sail in brutal, icy environments and may go to dangerous parts of the ocean like the icy Bering Sea. They're at risk of a vessel capsizing and drowning them as they navigate unpredictable storms and huge waves.

Telecommunications tower climbers ensure that you can always make that call on your 5G network without a hitch. They can scale up to 2,000 feet with heavy equipment to construct and maintain these networks. Workers must have amazing upper-body strength, similar to doing hundreds of consecutive pull-ups while tethered to a harness.

What Are Some of the Dangers of These Blue-collar Careers?

Being injured on the job is a common threat for many blue-collar jobs, especially ones where workers scale to extreme heights or work either on or below rough sea waters. According to Communications Workers of America's Tower Climbers Union, 65% of wireless tower technicians have been on a site where another worker was injured.

Work accidents and fatalities in these fields also include:

• Electrocution
• Rig fire and explosions
• Collapsed pressurized chamber
• Drowning
• Falls

In these instances, industry professionals can receive maritime injury legal help thanks to regulations such as the Jones Act.

The Trades That Secretely Make the World Run

Blue-collar careers offer a variety of exciting work opportunities for people who don't want to sit in the office all day and prefer to work outside in close-knit teams. While they can be exciting and a chance to test your physical endurance, these jobs also come with a high risk for injury or death that people should be aware of.

If you want to learn more about various jobs and risks, check out our website for more info.

This article was prepared by an independent contributor which helps us continue delivering quality content to our audiences.