Why Oil Rigs Are So Dangerous

For the record, if you're squeamish, you might just pass on to something else.

Odds are, you know at least one person that works in the oil fields. Historically, it's been a tough and dangerous job, but the general respect for those workers seems to be lagging in the modern day of OSHA and the importance of workplace safety. Add in the annoyingly big trucks with tongue-in-cheek stickers plastered over the back window, it's easy to see why perception of this field is what it has become. But that's not the whole story.

Hit play on the video and you'll see just what oil riggers deal with on a daily basis. Not that accidents happen all the time, they don't... But when they do, it leaves a major impact on real lives.

Even though the emphasis has been put on safety over the years through stringent standards and such, those laws and practices don't account for Uncle Murphy. If it can go wrong, eventually it will. It's just the nature of odds and statistics. I'm from an oil town where most of the friends from my youth ended up in the oil industry. Growing up around it, it's natural to see so many follow others into a field where the booms see money flow like water, and the busts see lifted trucks on every sales lot in the area. You wouldn't believe the stories these guys have. They're on a crazy scale that most chuckle about after the fact. Talk about a dangerous job.