Vintage Photos That Show Insanely Dangerous Working Conditions Back in the Day

Risk assessments are a relatively recent addition to the workplace. Back in the “good old days,” simply doing your job could be severely hazardous to your health – especially if you were a child at the time.

Here are some terror-inducing photos of a world before health and safety went mad.

Constructing the Eiffel Tower

Likely taken in 1888 or 1889, this photo shows one of the many construction workers who helped bring the Eiffel Tower to life. The worker dangles carelessly from the side of a steel girder, but this pose was uncommon while actually working – notice that another worker in the top left of the photo has carefully looped one leg over the top of a steel beam to avoid falling.

Child Factory Worker

Taken on January 19, 1909, this photo shows a pair of child factory workers hard at work at Bibb Mill in Macon, Georgia.

Child labor was prized as smaller hands could fit in between the spinning mill to repair broken threads or replace empty bobbins, but accidents were frequent and dismemberment was not at all uncommon.

Cincinnati Librarian

Think working as a librarian would be safer than factory work? Not necessarily. The Cincinatti Public Library, which opened in 1874 and wasn’t closed until 1955, contained 60,000 books across several floors that were only accessible by small gangways and ladders.

While there were safety rails, they were too low to actually stop a grown adult from plummeting to their death if anything went wrong.

Dock Worker

Working at a dock could involve a lot of unusual safety hazards. Sometimes, as in this photo, you’d be responsible for hoisting an elephant on or off a ship. While the details of this photo are lost to history, the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums believes that the elephant was part of a travelling fairground.