Haha.. chemical engineer here... and my work is computational. Although I have used HF to prepare wafers before.

Or they work with stuff that's neither explosive nor poisonous.

Yes. My computer has never been unsafe or exploded. Minor fires, electric shocks and toxic smoke yes, and worst of all, cuts from the case while trying to connect cables or replace fans.

Perhaps but the main thing was that within 15 minutes of a story hitting HN three people had mentioned the same reasons for leaving.

Do you understand what 'selection bias' means?

Yes, re-read my original comment: do you really think I am drawing a conclusion about an entire field from three anecdotes on HN, or that maybe the "dangerous" comment was me being light hearted? I just thought it was odd that in such a short space the same thing was cited multiple times, nothing more.