This month many workers around the world celebrated Labour Day with street marches, 
marking an event that dates back to 1886. This was when American employees took to the streets to protest against their long hours – demanding their time be halved from 16 to 8 hours a day.
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We’ve come a long way since then and here in Scotland, unless there is an opt-out agreement or an exemption applies, workers aged 18 or over cannot be made to work for more than 48 hours a week on average.
However, working too long isn’t the only hazard employees face. There are some jobs that are still perilous – in fact, nearly every industry has its share of danger.
If you’re looking for a new role from s1jobs, would you consider taking on one of the most dangerous jobs in the world?
Off the shores of Scotland, fishing has consistently been ranked among the most dangerous jobs – it’s one reason why TV shows such as Deadliest Catch are so popular. The most obvious dangers include sinking or falling overboard but there are records, too, of collisions, net winch malfunctions and diving misadventures.
What could be worse than water? How about adding electricity?
For underwater welders this is just part of the job when diving to repair pipelines, ships’ hulls or dam walls. In the North Sea, Scotland’s divers and welders must also contend with extreme ocean and weather conditions when working on oil rigs. Even the oil rig workers who stay high and dry on the platform must contend with heights, heavy equipment and dangerous materials.
Next most at risk are loggers who operate heavy cutting machinery, often in Scotland’s remote mountains and hillsides, where they are prone to falling trees and even the occasional landslide.
Not surprisingly, pilots and flight engineers also make the list of most dangerous jobs. While commercial airline safety has greatly improved over the years, incidents such as the recent lightning strike and runway crash in Moscow, show flying can still be hazardous.
Back on terra firma, meanwhile, farmers can also come a cropper, usually not from raging bulls or stampeding horses but from accidents while working with automated machinery.
Sometimes, of course, a job is created and enjoyed specifically for the danger that’s involved. The perfect example is that of a stuntperson, who is essentially paid to perform actions deemed too risky for movie actors, or to directly thrill live audiences.
Sign up for this line of work and you could find yourself leaping from buildings, deliberately crashing race cars or using weapons and ammunition in staged shoot-outs.
Scotland’s very own action hero Danny MacAskill has vowed to stage his biggest and best live show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer. The 33-year-old stunt cyclist, famous for his ability to ride down mountainsides and leap from building to building (as well as appearing in a tv advert for s1jobs!), says his Drop and Roll Show in a circus big top will be on a “different level”.
If you want to take your career to a different level, how about rising to the challenge of becoming a wind turbine engineer? With an average height often in excess of 300 feet this is certainly not a job for you if you don’t have a head for heights. Installing and maintaining the blades and gear mechanisms involves climbing, harness and rappelling skills that are the envy of experienced mountaineers.
Staying hundreds of feet off the ground for your entire working day is also a work environment shared by window cleaners. While Scotland lacks the towering skyscrapers of other countries, washing windows on some of the nation’s tallest buildings demands nerves of steel. Could you enjoy a packed lunch on a tiny platform hung from ropes on the side of a tall building?
Perhaps, you’d feel safer feeding a tiger or washing an elephant? These are just two of the tasks that must be done by Scotland’s zoo keepers and animal sanctuary assistants.
And when Simba gets a toothache or a sore paw it’s the role of the vet to get up close and personal with the king of the jungle and sort things out.
It also falls to a large animal vet to attend to livestock on farms. Here the average dairy cow looks happy and harmless but can weigh the same as a small car, making close quarters work a tricky business.
If these jobs sound simply too scary to consider, there are many health and safety rules and guidelines to help ensure calamity isn’t a daily occurrence.
There’s also one other factor to think about: more danger means more money.
If you have the derring-do to take on the duties of an action hero, you can earn a significantly higher salary than settling for a cosy day job.
So, if you really want to push yourself in a role that offers adventure and adrenalin, look for that perfect position on s1jobs.