The 17 jobs that are least damaging to your health
Jon Hurd/flickr
No job is completely safe or healthy. Even seemingly harmless desk jobs are killing us, thanks to the stressful environment and sedentary nature of many modern-day office gigs.
But some jobs intrinsically pose much greater health risks than others.
Working as a chemical plant operator or nurse, for instance, is far more dangerous and less healthy than working as a college professor or music director.
To rank the least unhealthy jobs in America, we used data from the Occupational Information Network, a US Department of Labor database full of detailed information on occupations.
In order to analyze jobs by their impact on workers' health, we took O*NET measures of six health risks in each of the 974 occupations in its database: exposure to contaminants; exposure to disease and infection; exposure to hazardous conditions; exposure to radiation; risk of minor burns, cuts, bites, and stings; and time spent sitting, since studies show that frequent inactivity shortens your lifespan. O*NET scores these factors on a scale from 0 to 100, with a lower score indicating a smaller health risk.
Read on to find out which jobs have very little potential to damage your health:
17. Securities and commodities sales agents
Thomson ReutersOverall unhealthiness score: 13.3
What they do: Buy and sell securities in investment and trading firms.
Health risks:
Spend time sitting: 80
Exposure to radiation: 0
Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 0
Exposure to hazardous conditions: 0
Exposure to disease and infections: 0
Exposure to contaminants: 0
16. Postsecondary history teachers
Joby Elliott/flickrOverall unhealthiness score: 13.2
What they do: Teach college history courses
Health risks:
Spend time sitting: 57
Exposure to radiation: 0
Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 1
Exposure to hazardous conditions: 0
Exposure to disease and infections: 15
Exposure to contaminants: 6
14 (tie). Training and development specialists
wocintech chat/flickrOverall unhealthiness score: 13.0
What they do: Design and conduct training and development programs to improve performance.
Health risks:
Spend time sitting: 63
Exposure to radiation: 2
Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 3
Exposure to hazardous conditions: 2
Exposure to disease and infections: 2
Exposure to contaminants: 6
See the rest of the story at Business Insider