A risky way to make a living.

(Baonghean)Suspended like "Spider-Man" on high-rise buildings, dangling in mid-air like stunt performers, these are the workers who earn a living painting, cleaning windows, installing advertising signs... while their lives are held only by ropes...

While walking along Quang Trung Street in Vinh City, I was surprised to see people hanging precariously high above the ground, peeling off layers of colored paper pasted on glass panels in preparation for the grand opening of a high-rise building. In areas out of reach, the workers would gently tap their feet, their bodies and ropes swaying back and forth like spiders spinning their webs.

While I was looking up to observe these "spider-men" at work, a building security guard approached me, smiling, and said, "If you're faint-hearted, don't look..." The "spider-men" here are the workers who clean the exteriors of high-rise buildings, such as cleaning windows, painting, and refurbishing the exteriors. In the mornings, when the buildings begin to open, groups of workers with their tools—ropes, buckets, rags, rollers, etc.—appear.

To reach their precarious, high-altitude workplaces, their only tools are thousands of meters of rope and the assistance of colleagues in lifting and lowering them. The work is fraught with risk and danger; a single mistake could be fatal, but for the sake of making a living, these "spider-men" still accept the risks.

Not only does this job require diligence, perseverance, and the ability to withstand work pressure, but these workers also need nerves of steel to maintain their work suspended hundreds of meters above the ground. To learn more about this equally dangerous job, we patiently waited until the painting crew working at the Sara building (on Le Nin Avenue, Vinh City) finished their shift.

As soon as he landed, exhaustion was clearly visible on the face of Bui Van Ba, a native of Tinh Gia (Thanh Hoa province) – a "spider-man" with nearly a decade of experience in the profession. Sharing with us, Mr. Ba said: "Today, we worked on the 10th floor, so only 4 people participated. Two members of the group asked to withdraw because they couldn't handle the pressure of the height. This season, the south wind is very strong at high altitudes. If you sit on the ground and feel a gentle wind of level 2 or 3, up there it must be equivalent to level 5 or 6 because there's no support, so the shaking is very strong. When reaching out to roll paint, the weight of my body can turn me into a pendulum. Each time that happens, the only thing we can cling to to regain balance is… faith." The work is simple but requires good health, with an income of 250,000-300,000 VND per person per day. While not affluent in the city, it's considered quite comfortable in the countryside.

Mr. Tran Van Thuan (from Dien Chau), a colleague of Mr. Ba, also happily contributed to the conversation: “Many new workers, unfamiliar with working at great heights, immediately feel nauseous and vomit as soon as they look down. For example, we painters usually lean against the wall for stability to prevent the ropes from swaying and to minimize movement, but window cleaners can't lean against the glass for fear of breaking it. They also have to move a lot across one pane of glass after another, making them very prone to losing their balance. That's why their safety equipment is always top-notch. On very high construction sites, climbing up and down takes a lot of time, so we usually finish the job before resting. It's become a habit, and we rarely get to eat or rest on time.”

Mr. Tran Duc Xuan (38 years old, from Nghi Loc) is painting the walls at the Sara building.
on Lenin Avenue - Vinh City

After a day of swinging in the scorching sun at an 8-story building on Lenin Avenue, Tran Duc Xuan (38 years old, from Nghi Loc), drenched in sweat, said: "When I first started working, I could only endure being at a height of 100 meters for 1-2 hours because I was both dizzy and cold. Gradually, I got used to it, and now I can sit high up all day. The hardest part of the job is getting the rope, sitting on a small plank with the equipment, and then being pulled up. Besides the rope attached to the plank, there's also a separate safety harness tied to my body to prevent accidents. I've been doing this job for 3 years, and the tallest building I've 'conquered' is over 30 stories. At first, I was very scared. When climbing onto the plank, my legs would tremble, and as I slowly lowered myself into the air, I'd hear the wind whistling past my ears, and looking down at the ground made me dizzy and gave me a headache." To succeed in this profession, you need to be healthy, free from cardiovascular diseases, have nerves of steel, not be afraid of heights, and possess great stamina.

Although both Mr. Ba and Mr. Xuan asserted that they had never experienced a work-related accident, they could never feel at ease while suspended at such heights. Every second, every minute, they had to work while remaining vigilant for all possible situations. Only when their feet touched the ground after a day's work could they be sure they were safe. When asked if anyone in the team had ever had a work-related accident, Mr. Bui Van Ba ​​said: "I often hear stories from other teams of workers here and there about people losing their lives, or at least breaking arms or legs because of broken ropes or falling off chairs due to dizziness, but nothing like that has happened in my team. To be honest, it sends shivers down my spine, but we have to keep working for a living."

The rapid pace of urbanization in the city, with skyscrapers, hotels, office buildings, and shopping centers springing up like mushrooms after the rain, has led to a growing demand for cleaning and maintenance services for these buildings. The profession of "industrial maid" has also flourished as a result.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Dang, Director of Bac Trung Nam Trading & Services Co., Ltd., said: "The industrial cleaning industry in general, and building painting and window cleaning in particular, has become popular in the last five years due to rapid urbanization and the emergence of many buildings and high-rises. In Vinh City, there are currently about 10 small and medium-sized enterprises operating in this field, not including individual groups of workers. Although the job offers a relatively good income for unskilled laborers, recruiting workers for this profession is not easy, as it requires selecting people who are healthy and courageous. Many people quit after only a few days of work because they are afraid of the dangers. There are also many healthy and brave people who, when climbing high-rise buildings, become afraid of heights, dizzy, and nauseous. When a worker shows such symptoms, the manager must immediately bring them down and temporarily stop the work."

Despite the dangers, not all companies prioritize investing in proper safety equipment for their workers, especially scaffolding. Often, workers only have a single safety belt around their waist, along with a makeshift frame welded from 6mm iron bars or a wooden plank. Manual laborers often have low levels of education, and their training is usually superficial and inadequate, leading to poor work ethics, such as laughing and joking while working, smoking, and a lack of concentration. This is one of the reasons for tragic accidents in high-rise buildings.

Furthermore, unskilled labor is often seasonal, and recruitment is usually based on verbal agreements without any binding contracts between employers and employees. As a result, most workers are largely unaware of insurance or allowances for hazardous work, overtime, etc.

Ngoc Anh