Walking by a housing estate in Shatin on a rainy Sunday, a man standing in a window caught my attention. Was he trying to jump? It didn’t seem plausible – it was only the first or second floor, depending on how you count. You probably can’t kill yourself that way, even though you will sustain serious damage.
The man was actually removing an air conditioner from a window. That in itself is nothing remarkable. What was scary, at least to me, was that he had no safety harness on him, not even a rope securing him to the building.
3 comments:
Having lived in North America for almost 20 years, I think what we see here is the Hong Kong ethos: just get the job done. Forget safety, work hours, pay, regulations... Such mentality has driven HK all these years, and seems to work... until recently, some people start to talk about occupation safety, maximum work hours, spending time with kids, labor protection laws... But others believe introduction of such are eroding HK's characteristics, and we are sliding backwards in terms of competition ...
You know who is on what side.
Maybe he should be nominated for a Darwin's Award, Honorable mention.
I was mainly struck by the apparent danger in the situation, and wasn't really aware of the wider implications.
But it is certainly symptomatic of the labor situation in Hong Kong, particularly from a business owners' point of view.
The workers themselves often have little or no choice.
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