Occupational Safety Standards   2004-10-31

There seems to be a continuous cycle of development in Taipei. Walk down any street and chances are there'll be at least one new construction development happening. A building going up. A building coming down. A shop opening. A shop closing. In itself this isn't very interesting, but take a closer look at who's doing the work and how, and you're in for a surprise.

These are just a few of the scenes noticed around town over the past few weeks:

1. A man sitting in the crook of a giant hook attached to a building crane dangling at least four stories above the ground with no safety harness of any kind trying to pull something off the side of a building.



2. A crew of six men spraying the interior of a confined space with some vile smelling liquid without any respiratory safety equipment. You could smell this stuff at least a block away it was so strong.



3. A man standing out on the third story ledge of an apartment building at night madly hammering something into the exterior building wall above the window frame.



4. A man in a tank top, shorts, and flip-flops welding an I-beam structure two stories up with no safety goggles or gloves.



5. Two men sitting opposite each other, again wearing shorts and flip-flops, chipping tile off the floor with hammers and screwdrivers and not a pair of safety goggles in sight.

The strange and mysterious anti-standards adhered to in most countries in the world. Somehow the cycle keeps repeating itself.

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