[OT]Summer Job: Offshore Oil Rig?

[Kriskrafts]

Do you think they are hiring disembodied skeletal heads?

This is a great example of why I love EN World. Where else would you: (a) Ever hear the above comment (b) Pass it off as normal conversation.

 

[MarauderX]

This is a great example of why I love EN World. Where else would you: (a) Ever hear the above comment (b) Pass it off as normal conversation.

(c) Hire the disembodied skeletal head for 10 silver a day.

 

[Azure Trance]

As far as Crab fishing in Alaska, you would be safer shooting yourself out of a cannon at the circus. Commercial fishing in Alaska is one of the most dangerous jobs in America.

I'm sorry about the tangent, but this caught my attention. Fishing? Is the weather out there that bad to cause serious, frequent harm to the ship? (Like the Perfect Storm, except less dramatic)

 

[Single Malt]

I'm sorry about the tangent, but this caught my attention. Fishing? Is the weather out there that bad to cause serious, frequent harm to the ship? (Like the Perfect Storm, except less dramatic)

Now, I'm no expert on the subject, but I thought the main concern was people falling overboard, not damage to the ships. Granted, the weather is probably the main danger, but mostly because you are working on a slippery deck with little or no railing, poor visibility, high winds and an unhealty amount of lines/wires/hooks/nets lying around your feet. If you fall overboard you can only hope that someone notices in time and even then the chances of finding and rescuing you are pretty slim.

 

[Acmite]

DWARF, have you thought about working in Leduc or in Fort McMurray on the Oil Sands?

They both use a similar 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off rotation, and they both have very well paying jobs that require little training.

Syncrude and Suncor (the two main companies in the Oil Sands) pay very well and generally have a ton of summer work. Both have web pages with contact info.

If you want to work the fields around Leduc, your best bet is to look for pipeline companies and stuff in the Edmonton and Calgary Yellow Pages and go from there.

These options pay almost as well, and are much closer to home, and are a hell-of-a-lot safer.

 

[jdavis]

I'm sorry about the tangent, but this caught my attention. Fishing? Is the weather out there that bad to cause serious, frequent harm to the ship? (Like the Perfect Storm, except less dramatic)

"Each year in Alaskan waters, an average of 34 fishing vessels and 24 lives are lost in the commercial fishing industry, which equates to an occupational fatality rate of 140/100,000 workers/year, 20 times the national average."

From NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) study on commercial fishing in Alaska.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fishfor.html

Shellfishing (crabs/lobsters etc....) is by far the worst type of fishing there.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fishfat.html

I'm sure NIOSH has a similar report on Oil Rig safety too.

 

[Dr Midnight]

DUDE- seriously- make sure BEFORE YOU GO that it's not an offshore shark study facility with a focus on a cure for Alzheimer's.
Because you will die. Those sharks are smarter than normal sharks, with, like, problem solving abilities.

If you choose to go, though, and Sam Jackson starts yelling, tell him to duck.

 

[Azure Trance]

If you choose to go, though, and Sam Jackson starts yelling, tell him to duck.

Ducking wouldn't cover that at all. I'd just tell him to avoid open pools of water from the beginning.

 

[Azure Trance]

"Each year in Alaskan waters, an average of 34 fishing vessels and 24 lives are lost in the commercial fishing industry, which equates to an occupational fatality rate of 140/100,000 workers/year, 20 times the national average."

You know, I'm reading this (and thank you for the links, I find it quite informative). Those rates sound -I think- similar to getting a nasty reaction to the Smallpox vaccine. It's a bit hard to quantify, to me at least, the dangers. Sure, you're human, but what's 140/100,000? 14/10,000. 1.4 deaths out of every thousand people.

And for some odd, odd reason, I feel compelled to go on a fishing boat now ...

 

[Bob Aberton]

On a similar tangent about fishing, search "Gloucester, Massachusetts," you'll eventually get to the Gloucester fisherman's memorial, then take a good look at it. The sheer number of fatalities, even with modern safety equipment, is amazing.

Or try reading the book "The Hungry Ocean," by Linda Greenlaw, a former swordboat captain. Really illustrates the risks involved in longline fishing; slippery decks, fog, sleep deprivation (four hours or less a night), bad weather, and sharp fishing hooks a good eight inches long continuously reeling off the back of the boat.

Then, of course, king crab fishing has a whole different set of hazards; ice, mainly; sea spray freezing on the decks and rigging can sometimes get heavy enough to capsize the whole fishing boat, and I imagine its slippery as hell, the usual bad weather and fog (valuable fish always seem to live in the most dangerous areas), and the crab nets, big cages large enough to fit several people, swinging around at chest level as the fishermen try to stuff bait in them while not falling overboard.

(with this recent cold weather, I saw a story on the news where a New Bedford trawler went out fishing; it got so ice coated that the crew had to be chipping at the ice 24 hours a day just to keep her from capsizing. The pilot house was frozen in and the skipper had to drive the ship in by radar, with a lookout on the bow shouting exactly where to steer the boat. The crew said they were going out again in a few days.)

And yeah, weather out there can get pretty bad; 500+ foot long container ships often suffer severe structural damage and sometimes sink, in during long voyages. The one most recent in my memory is was, I believe, called the CONTSHIP HOLLAND; 552(?) feet long. It sunk with all hands lost in the North Atlantic during a winter crossing.

The sea isn't anything to be messed around with, my friends.