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Top 5 Toughest Factory Jobs
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Top 5 Toughest Factory Jobs

By Patrick J. Kiger
Editor Amanda Arnold

"I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain," sang Bruce Springsteen in a tribute to factory workers. Indeed, perhaps all of us should pay homage to those working folks' everyday trudge to plants all over the planet. They spend long, tiring hours sweating on the assembly lines that make the products the rest of us buy and consume every day.

The assembly line was invented by horseless-carriage maker Ransom E. Olds in 1901. Since then, many millions of people have spent much of their days toiling in carefully regimented, confined spaces, each contributing a tiny piece to both a finished product and the greater prosperity. It's safe to say that most factory workers endure a certain degree of monotony, fatigue, angry bosses, pressure to meet production quotas and risk of physical injury. But clearly some jobs are more grueling, unpleasant, dangerous and sanity-sacrificing than others.

Here's a quick look at five of the most arduous factory jobs on the planet — gigs so extreme we have to wonder why anyone would want to take them on.