Is splunking dangerous?
Caving
Caves can be dangerous places; hypothermia, falling, flooding, falling rocks and physical exhaustion are the main risks. Rescuing people from underground is difficult and time-consuming, and requires special skills, training, and equipment. Full-scale cave rescues often involve the efforts of dozens of rescue workers (often other long-time cavers who have participated in specialized courses, as normal rescue staff are not sufficiently experienced in cave environments), who may themselves be put in jeopardy in effecting the rescue. This said, caving is not necessarily a high-risk sport (especially if it does not involve difficult climbs or diving). As in all physical sports, knowing one's limitations is key.
Mule scavenger
The job is noted as being one of the worst in history owing to the conditions the children had to work in. The danger of being beneath the machines meant that they had to constantly pay attention to its movements in order to avoid serious injury. An 1840 novel by Frances Trollope describes the work of a scavenger:
While there were no requirements for factory owners to keep any records about the majority of accidents on their premises there are many anecdotal cases of scavengers suffering serious and sometimes fatal injuries. Some lost fingers or a hand, others are said to have been decapitated. A record held at the Quarry Bank Mill, now a museum, states:
Research by Jane Humphries, a professor of economic history at the University of Oxford, revealed that a mill near Cork had such a poor safety record that six people died and 60 others were mutilated over a four-year period. Robert Blincoe, a scavenger who went on to found his own cotton-spinning business, described the life of a child labourer in his book "A Memoir of Robert Blincoe". He wrote about the mistreatment of workers at the cotton mills and the poor conditions that they had to endure. He claims that on one occasion he was nearly crushed by the machine and that, despite the injuries to his head, he was beaten for not completing the sweep in a single turn.