17 Dangerous Careers from the ’70s That Would Raise The Eyebrow Today
The 1970s were a different time when it came to workplace safety. Before modern regulations transformed American workplaces, many employees risked their lives daily in jobs that would make today’s safety inspectors faint.
Workers handled dangerous chemicals without protection, dangled from heights without harnesses, and breathed toxic fumes as part of their normal routines.
Let’s look back at these risky professions that thankfully have become much safer, or disappeared entirely.
1. Asbestos Installation Specialist
Back when asbestos was considered a miracle material, workers would handle it with bare hands, often covered in the dangerous fibers from head to toe. No respirators, no special suits—just lunch breaks with asbestos-covered sandwiches.
The tiny fibers would lodge in their lungs, setting the stage for mesothelioma decades later. Companies knew about the dangers but kept quiet to protect profits.
2. Lead Paint Mixer
Stirring vats of vibrant, toxic colors was just another day at the office. Paint mixers would dip their arms elbow-deep into lead-based formulas, often tasting small amounts to check consistency—a practice that seems absolutely bonkers today!
The sweet taste of lead made it dangerously appealing. Workers absorbed the neurotoxin through their skin daily, slowly accumulating brain and nervous system damage with each shift.
3. Radium Dial Painter
“Lip, dip, paint” was the dangerous mantra for the young women who painted watch dials with radium-infused paint. They’d point their brushes with their lips, unknowingly ingesting radioactive material with every stroke.
Their employers called the eerie glow they took on a beautiful perk of the job. Some women even painted their nails and teeth for fun, creating a ghostly glow at parties—unaware they were poisoning themselves with each application.
4. PCB Equipment Cleaner
Scrubbing electrical equipment with PCB-laden solutions was considered routine maintenance. Workers would splash around in the chemicals, sometimes using them to clean grease off their hands at the end of shifts.
These potent carcinogens soaked through skin and settled in fatty tissues. Companies provided no gloves, no warning labels, and certainly no hazard pay for handling what we now know causes cancer, liver damage, and birth defects.
5. X-Ray Shoe Fitter
Shoe shopping used to include a dose of radiation! Fluoroscopes let customers see their foot bones inside shoes while salespeople received repeated radiation exposure all day long.
These machines leaked radiation in all directions. Sales staff would demonstrate proper use by sticking their hands under the beam hundreds of times weekly.
The cool factor of seeing skeleton feet outweighed any safety concerns until studies revealed the shocking cumulative radiation doses.
6. DDT Sprayer
Armed with tanks of DDT, these workers were neighborhood heroes, banishing mosquitoes and other pests with clouds of “harmless” chemicals. Children would often chase the trucks through summer streets, playing in the sweet-smelling fog.
Sprayers would return home covered in residue, hugging family members with contaminated clothes. The miracle pesticide that supposedly couldn’t hurt humans was actually building up in everyone’s tissues, wreaking environmental havoc we’re still addressing today.
7. Shipyard Insulator
Navy shipyards were asbestos wonderlands where insulators worked in confined spaces filled with floating fibers. The particles would get so thick in the air that workers could barely see each other across small compartments.
After shifts, they’d blow the dust off each other with compressed air hoses—effectively ensuring they inhaled maximum amounts.
The insulation materials were often mixed dry, creating dust storms that coated workers’ lungs with what would later be called “the perfect carcinogen.”
8. Mercury Mirror Applier
Creating mirrors once involved spreading liquid mercury across glass—with bare hands! Workers would smooth the toxic metal evenly across surfaces, breathing mercury vapors all day in poorly ventilated workshops.
Many developed the telltale tremors of mercury poisoning, which gave rise to the phrase “mad as a hatter” from an earlier era.
Despite visible symptoms among employees, companies maintained that workers were simply “sensitive” rather than being systematically poisoned by their daily tasks.
9. Coal Dust Sampler
Someone had to measure dust levels in coal mines, and these brave souls carried equipment deep underground without adequate protection. They’d collect samples in the dustiest areas, often working alongside miners rather than evacuating during high-exposure periods.
The cruel irony? Many dust samplers developed black lung from measuring the very hazard they were supposed to be monitoring.
Mining companies frequently pressured them to take samples in less dusty areas to keep operations running, falsely suggesting that conditions were safer than reality.
10. Uranium Mine Driller
Uranium miners blasted through radioactive rock with minimal ventilation, creating dust clouds that glowed in the dark. The eerie beauty masked the invisible radiation bombarding their bodies with each breath.
Lunch breaks happened right in the radioactive tunnels. Water dripping from mine ceilings contained dissolved radon that workers would sometimes drink when thirsty.
Cancer rates in mining communities skyrocketed, yet companies insisted there was no connection to the mysterious ore they extracted.
11. Industrial Waste Diver
When chemical tanks needed cleaning, someone had to go inside. These divers plunged into vats of industrial waste wearing ordinary scuba gear that provided zero protection against toxic chemicals.
Their wetsuits would literally dissolve during some jobs. The chemicals penetrated their skin, causing immediate burns and long-term organ damage.
After particularly harsh dives, some reported urine that changed colors or skin that peeled off in sheets—just another day at the office.
12. Leaded Gasoline Pump Attendant
Full-service gas station attendants spent eight hours daily with their faces near gas tank openings, huffing leaded gasoline fumes with every vehicle they served. The distinctive smell became part of their personal scent, following them home after shifts.
Many would wash parts in gasoline and clean their hands with it too. Lead particles accumulated in their bloodstreams year after year. Some old-timers could even tell octane ratings by taste—a party trick that accelerated their neurological damage.
13. Tobacco Pesticide Applicator
Tobacco fields received chemical baths that would make modern environmentalists faint. Workers would wade through crops immediately after spraying, their clothes soaked with pesticide cocktails that penetrated directly into their skin.
Many applicators reported getting “tobacco sickness” daily—actually pesticide poisoning that caused vomiting, dizziness, and confusion.
Children as young as twelve worked these fields, absorbing both nicotine and pesticides through their skin while companies claimed the practices were completely safe.
14. Microwave Radiation Tester
When microwave ovens first became popular, someone had to check for radiation leaks. These testers would use their bodies as detection instruments, feeling for warmth that indicated escaping radiation.
The “hand test” involved placing palms near seams while units operated at full power. If your hand felt warm, that meant radiation was leaking!
Early testers received cumulative doses that would horrify modern safety experts, all while being told microwave radiation was harmless.
15. Textile Loom Operator
Cotton dust filled the air so thickly in textile mills that workers could barely see across the room. Loom operators would develop “brown lung” within years, gasping for breath while machines clattered deafeningly around them.
Ear protection? Respirators? Not in the ’70s! The combination of 100+ decibel noise and airborne cotton particles created a perfect storm of occupational disease. Workers often communicated through hand signals because they couldn’t hear each other speak—many becoming deaf by their thirties.
16. Beryllium Machinist
Machinists would shape beryllium metal for nuclear and aerospace applications, creating fine dust that sparkled beautifully in the light. That same dust would scar their lungs permanently, causing a disease so distinctive it was named after the metal: berylliosis.
No dust collection systems existed in most shops. Workers would blow the shimmering particles off machines with compressed air, inadvertently creating toxic clouds they’d breathe for hours.
17. Nuclear Cleanup Responder
When early nuclear facilities had accidents, someone had to clean up the mess. These brave (or uninformed) workers would enter radioactive zones with little more than rubber gloves and paper masks—about as effective as an umbrella in a hurricane.
Dosimeters would alarm constantly but were often ignored to finish the job. Some cleanup operations allowed exposure levels we now know cause cancer in nearly 100% of cases.