Is Your Job Killing You?

A desk can be deadlier than the daring life on a flying trapeze— if a secret urge is making you literally work yourself to death.
By Donald G. Cooley
ALFRED Rhodes, professional stunt man, contemplated the fact that nobody had jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived. So he decided it was up to him to be the first to leap and live. All in the day's work, he figured.
He planned the job with meticulous care. Main problem, he reasoned, was to hit feet first and knife cleanly into the water. He rigged up a baby parachute to keep himself from flopping over during the fall and protected his body with a special padded rubber suit.
He waved to the crowd on the bridge, then calmly stepped over the side. The little white 'chute opened neatly. From the height of the bridge nothing looked more dangerous than that 200-foot drop. And nothing was.
His body turned despite the 'chute and he hit the water flat on his face.
Rhodes' job did kill him. But most dangerous jobs actually are a lot safer than they look.