The photo below amazes me, even for India.  They are constructing a shopping mall in Bhubaneswar, India.

It took me a bit of looking to see what was happening. They are building the scaffolding and have step-ups perpendicular to the building to hand up scaffold poles. The workers stand on a small piece of wire mesh (perhaps 12″ x 36″) that straddles two horizontal poles connected on either side to upright poles.

The structure has no stability to resist any type of sudden wind or storm. In fact, I’d imagine the workers could probably bring it down by all moving in the same direction at the same time.

We all complain sometimes about OSHA  and the American judicial system for going too far. This photo makes me glad that we have a system that keeps us focused on not acting stupid. I imagine there is a contractor in India saying, “But I have to do it this way. If I don’t, my competitor will and then they will have the job.”

Take a moment to be thankful if you live in a place that forces reasonable worker safety provisions. If you’re in one of these unregulated environments, think about the moral line you want to keep, then try to stick to it. Actually, we all need to do that. And no, it’s not supposed to be easy.