Okay, standards have changed, and people in the past did a lot of things we would not do today. That said, this Lewis Hine photo from the construction of the Empire State Building can strike terror into the hearts of site safety managers:
So there’s no misunderstanding, that’s a steelworker hitching a ride on a crane hook, presumably to save himself the trouble of having to climb somewhere. If I wanted to nitpick modern safety standards, I could point to the lack of a shirt and high-visibility vest, but let’s stick with the basics: he’s not tied to anything. What’s keeping him from falling – not so bad at the moment that Hine snapped the photo, but I’m sure far worse shortly before or shortly after – is the friction of his boot on the curved steel of the hook bottom and his grip, through heavy and oversized leather gloves, on the hook’s top.
There weren’t a whole bunch of deaths at the site from steelworkers falling, so I guess they knew what they were doing. On a personal level, I’m not particularly afraid of heights, but I’m enough of a klutz to never put myself in a position where my life depends on being coordinated and watchful. On a larger scale, OSHA has revised just about everything we see in this photo for the better.
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