Hard Hat not Required

The part of the city that I live in is called the Gaoxin Zone, the High-Tech Zone. It's a newer part of the city, so there are lots of buildings that are still under construction. It's by one of those buildings that this takes place.

I was walking down the sidewalk on the way to the supermarket, when barely two steps in front of me, a large brightspark of yellow flashed on the ground in front of me. It was gone in an instant and I had no idea what direction it came from. When I look up, I see a construction worker with a welding torch, four or five stories up, almost directly above me. Sparks are flying as he works on something, completely unaware of the people walking below him.

I ran out from under him quickly, thankful that I hadn't been a second faster with my walking. I'd hate to get hit in the head by one of the bigger sparks. That's also when I realized that there are little to no safety precautions taken for some very dangerous jobs here.

I've seen street cleaners walking down the middle of the road picking up trash in between moving cars. People will open up manholes to send wires somewehere without putting up a single warnign sign. Even small things like wet paint signs are completely forgotten. 

I don't get it, but I've gotten used to looking for these things when I walk places, so I don't care us much as I used too.