A daredevil photographer and a safety guru teamed up to capture an unprecedented view of New York City, and a fresh perspective on the importance of construction job safety.

 Do you know that 818 people died from falling or slipping or tripping on the job in 2014, which is the most recent year the Bureau of Labor Statistics has data from? Because Jamison Walsh does. Do you know that falling is a leading cause of job-site death, “which is very hard to believe because safety is one of the key factors on every job site and it’s only getting harder and harder to not do something safe?” Walsh knows that, too. Chin sat and listened to Walsh at the base of the spire as they got ready, slithering into harnesses and clicking in D-rings.

Walsh gives these speeches all the time, and it’s not always the case that people listen carefully. It’s hard to convey to workers at construction companies or on TV shoots — Walsh does his trainings anyplace that requires someone to ascend four feet or higher for work — just how real that 818 statistic is, how it doesn’t even address the people who fall and injure themselves; these are just the ones who died. It is hard to drive into them how you have to be serious and meticulous every single time, the first and the fifth and the five-thousandth. Walsh tries to make it personal. He talks about his own family, how he wants to see them at the end of every day. He hopes that his trainees are thinking about their families. “Everyone has something they’re going home to.”

Check out the rest of the NY Times article and see the corresponding amazing photography here.