Censoring construction updates

  • Posted by Michiel
  • November 13, 2008

For the Dutch section of SkyscraperCity I take photos of the new Rabotoren being built in Utrecht. Like thousands of other people I post construction updates consisting of many photos taken near the site so that others (who don’t live close) can follow the building’s progress.

In other countries, certain people have been asked by the developers to stop taking photographs, but it’s certainly a rare thing. But I recently received a private message on this site from an employee who works in construction and is currently attached to the Rabotoren project. He’s given us construction updates and even a few on-site photos taken from one of the cranes. But in this private message he’s asking me to not post any more photos of so-called ‘dangerous situations’. This can be anything from a construction worker not wearing his hard hat or some scaffolding hanging loose. According to him, the labour inspection also frequent these forums and they could stumble upon my photos of dangerous situations at the Rabotoren. This could result in heavy fines and would almost certainly put an end to his (or even my) photo updates.

I responded by telling him that I’m obviously taking these photos as a favour for everyone watching these forums, and that I’m not interested in getting anyone busted for bad safety. And that’s the truth: I’m really not going to argue with this construction worker that I’m totally within my rights. I told him that I was, but that I would honor his request because I enjoy his photos and I’m not interested in seeing ‘how far this can go’. I don’t think anything would happen if I continued posting photos of dangerous sitations – I’m not so sure that labour inspectors really track construction updates at these forums.

I know that this person doesn’t have the authority to ask me to stop posting those kind of photos, and I’m really not pro-censorship. I just don’t think this is important enough for me to make a big deal about, and since it’s pretty easy to screen my photos from now on I guess I’ll do him this favour. Though, I don’t know if I’ll be able to spot every situation that could be called dangerous. I can certainly spot someone not wearing a hard hat, but that’s about it. Construction wise, I have no clue. Is standing on one foot dangerous? How does one spot dangerously constructed scaffolding? I don’t know, and I don’t think it’s my responsibility to make sure they don’t get fined. But since I like taking these photos, and I’d rather have a positive attitude from the people actually working at this site instead of a negative one, I’ll oblige this worker’s request.

I don’t even know exactly what my rights are. I know I’m taking these photos from the public road, but there are obviously also privacy issues involved. I post photos of construction workers without asking their permission, so there’s probably something to be said about that, too. If someone higher up got involved, I don’t think I’d be that difficult for them to legally order me to stop posting these photos. I don’t believe it would ever even get this far, but I really don’t want to try and push this issue to find out.

What do you think about all of this?

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November 13th, 2008
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Michiel
Posted on:
November 13, 2008 at 21:44

I actually wrote about user-generated content censorship just a week ago here. This was my fourth and final entry for the course in which we had to write four blogs about e-publishing. I even received that private message the very same day; unfortunately I didn’t notice it until today.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Ivan
Posted on:
November 14, 2008 at 9:48

Contractors like painters and electricians are used for lots of sub projects. They are required to deliver projects within a certain time span, therefor safety requirements are often ignored. Contractors who follow safety guidelines are more expensive and take longer to get the job done (also more expensive). For large projects like these an estimated death count is calculated, like “1.7 deaths” upon completion. In posting your pictures there’s both job security, privacy, safety and social ethics involved. But it’s not your responsibility, you’re taking pictures of a building after all.

I think it’s not unlikely the labor inspection tracks these websites. Perhaps a popular activity for the inspector when it’s stormy and raining? ;)

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Michiel
Posted on:
November 14, 2008 at 10:37

Yes Ivan, that’s not altogether unthinkable :) I suppose it is a nice form of ‘undercover inspection’: no one on site is aware that they’re being watched.

And I think you’re right about the safety requirements. I’ve been on that forum for a while now, and I’ve seen a lot of photos of unsafe situations. It’s like you said: you have to take certain risks, because otherwise costs would skyrocket. Playing it safe is extremely expensive. If you could choose between hoisting yourself into a safety harness or holding onto a mate while you screw a bolt into a steel girder for just 30 seconds, it’s much easier and cheaper to choose the latter option.

Five workers died during construction of the Empire State Building, and two or three people have died in recent years during the construction of the Burj Dubai. Not much has changed in 75 years. Safety guidelines have increased dramatically, but if you don’t follow all of them all the time, accidents will still happen. I think this is a well known fact anyway (I mean, if we know, inspectors must certainly know), so do my photographs of dangerous situations really make things worse? There was some discussion about serious unsafe situations in the Maastoren thread (Rotterdam), but I didn’t even see anyone suggest the possibility of censuring photos over there.