Poland - Huta Pokoj - Steel Mill dominates town

It is 10.15 in the morning and a mother and her daughter have crossed a road in Ruda Slaska, Poland, while an older lady has paused on the zebra crossing. It is a dark and gloomy day in this heavily polluted, industrial town in southern Poland. The local employer is the Huta Pokoj SA steel mill that dominates the landscape, rising as a filthy tower that makes the air quality so poor that respiratory deceases are common, with soot present in the atmosphere for children to breathe. The environmental impact of 1990s post-Stalinist Polish heavy industry is evident. The day is damp, depressing and unhealthy with a truck's headlights on as pedestrians stand on the roadside, wait at the bus stop or cycle past on the pavement.

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Filename: misc_poland01-06-09-2007.jpg
Copyright: Richard Baker
Image Size: 5120x3349 / 1.9MB; Europe European EU Eastern Europe Poland Photographer Richard Baker environment industrial industry largest Polish Huta Pokoj Katowice Steel mill grimey pollution bleak dirty manufacturing heavy industry winter work job employment complex site factory livelihood urban city grim polluted health medical hygiene crossing road street zebra crossing damp wet air quality murky trade scale perspective poland steel Pokoj Stalinist depressing employer air pedestrian Ruda Slaska Upper Silesia sooty
Contained in galleries: Richard Baker - All pics

It is 10.15 in the morning and a mother and her daughter have crossed a road in Ruda Slaska, Poland, while an older lady has paused on the zebra crossing. It is a dark and gloomy day in this heavily polluted, industrial town in southern Poland. The local employer is the Huta Pokoj SA steel mill that dominates the landscape, rising as a filthy tower that makes the air quality so poor that respiratory deceases are common, with soot present in the atmosphere for children to breathe. The environmental impact of 1990s post-Stalinist Polish heavy industry is evident. The day is damp, depressing and unhealthy with a truck's headlights on as pedestrians stand on the roadside, wait at the bus stop or cycle past on the pavement.