The country that health and safety forgot

That's because they're constructing a mountain road thousands of feet above the ground in Pingjiang County, Hunan province.

With no ropes or safety harnesses, and only hard hats to protect them if they fall, these men spend their days hauling heavy planks and wheelbarrows full of cement over a rickety wooden walkway.

In other images the builders can be seen perched on nothing more than rusty metal scaffolding poles as they hammer them into the mountainside to extend the walkway.

Chinese officials hope that the road will draw thousands more tourists to the area, as they flock to walk along the scenic route.

Pingjiang County is well-known for its mountains, with the Mufu Mountain range sweeping through most of the province, and the national park there already attracts thousands of sightseers.

Local authorities have tried to capitalise on this popularity by building a winding series of mountain roads and glass walkways along some of the sheerest cliff faces.

It is not known exactly where this walkway is being constructed, but it is very similar in appearance to another mountain path being built along the side of Shifou Mountain, in nearby Jiangxi province.

That road has been under construction since at least 2011, and also saw workers balancing on a flimsy 3ft-wide wooden walkway thousands of feet up a mountain.

Once completed, that road would have stretched for nearly two miles around the cliff top, making it China's longest mountain sightseeing road.

Engineer Yu Ji, 48, who has been building these roads for a decade, said: 'I don’t feel it’s so different from any other job. It’s not as dangerous as people think. You just wear ropes then everything is OK.'

Another glass-bottomed walkway opened in Pingjiang in 2014, suspended 600ft above the ground, it is actually a suspension bridge that stretches between two mountaintops.

Because it is only held up by steel cables which anchor it to the surrounding rocks, the bridge actually sways when the wind blows, making it especially terrifying for tourists to cross.

So many visitors get stuck on the bridge, their legs paralysed by fear, that the tourist board employs specially trained staff who are on hand to help them to the other side. 

(dailymail.co.uk)