Living on the edge

The typical sedentary nine to five desk job may bore you to death, but most of us are content with our warm revolving chairs, shielded from all possible worldly dangers by the five feet high walls of our cubicle fortresses. While frequent smoking breaks and staying up all night seven nights in a row to finish your entire department's paperwork is as life-threatening as it gets, and although paper cuts really are the worst, a slow death induced by stress and bad lifestyle choices doesn't really make the cut for the title of most hazardous occupation. Yes, the real daredevils and thrill-seekers of the working world have it much worse, facing life-and-death situations every day without a second thought. Here they are in no particular order. 

Shipbreakers

While mariners see their fair share of drama and fatality, they don't come close to ship-breakers. The actual tight-rope walkers of manual labour, the lives of shipbreakers are almost always on the line. Media attention in recent times has shed light on the fact that thousands of lives are lost in the shipyards, victims disappearing into the abyss, their deaths unaccounted for and covered up. This is possibly hands-down Bangladesh's most deadly occupation. If a tangle of giant chains, cable lines and natural gas lines doesn't catch them, shipbreakers are never safe from the fire and fury of blow torches and free-moving mammoth-sized ship parts.

Deep-sea fishing

You wouldn't know it but deep-sea fishing is not the serene effortless lifestyle you'd think it is. Battling monsters waves off the coast of Bangladesh is hardly a task for the weak hearted. Surfing waves on a dilapidated fishing boat, what seems like a fun adrenaline rush is actually enough to give you one heart attacks, if the run-down boat doesn't capsize first. Once you're lost out at sea, there's very little that can be done amidst the tropical cyclones to get you out.

Metal crafters

This is an industry that makes an exception for no one. From children to aging men and women, thousands of Bangladeshis working in metal crafts are exposed to various chemicals and inhale carcinogenic fumes. While we didn't learn a thing from all those documentaries about electrical refuse worker turned cancer victim in places like China, countless continue to live the unknown dangers of metal work.

Construction site workers

Undoubtedly one of the most heard hazardous occupations, there is not a single safe thing about working in construction in Bangladesh. Whether they're working roofs or breaking bricks, if a construction worker doesn't face the risk of falling because a cable cut loose there's always the risk of damaging the fingers and the hand. With millions of day labourers on the streets and at building sites and little no safety measures, it's no wonder this is on our list.

Public transport drivers/conductors

Driving scrap metal buses and taxis have their own dangers, but driving rickshaws, CNGs and lagunas are in a league of their own. Besides the obvious death-traps all over the roads of Bangladesh, there is always the risk of armed robbery and violence. As for bus conductors, imagine missing that step just left to the bus as it's making a stop – it's all or nothing for these guys.