Cranes can be some of the most dangerous pieces of equipment on any construction jobsite.  Not only do workers need to worry about working underneath loads being suspended by cranes, operators need to exercise extreme caution when working with heavy loads and extreme weather conditions.  Cranes are also pivotal in efficiently building multi-story buildings, especially high rise and supertall buildings.  The profession itself, at least for tower crane operators, can be fairly lonely though, as there's no buddy system up in the cab.  The long commute up to the top also restricts the amount of time operators can take breaks.