Construction worker teeters on skyscrapers 1,000ft above New York streets

A series of videos show the modern-day New York City skywalkers working on high-rise buildings and erecting scaffolding more than a thousand feet above the ground.

The videos, uploaded by Marcos Valencia, show how he and fellow construction workers clamber on top of towers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. 

In one they can be seen passing tools to each other as they work on 3 World Trade Center in Manhattan, 1,079 feet at its highest. From those heights it is possible to make out Governor's Island and Staten Island behind it.

In another they are working above the Upper East side, with views of Queens across the Hudson River. 

His videos often pan downwards to reveal the terrifying heights at which the intrepid workers spend their days, as well as spectacular views of the city.

But it's dangerous work - between 2009 and 2018, 78 construction workers died after falling in NYC, according to data from New York State.

Valencia and his co-workers can be seen in boots and high-viz, inching along narrow scaffolding boards and guiding aluminum building materials into place with the aid of cranes. He boasts a view from the top of 3 World Trade Center. The black building (right) is the US Steel Building

Falling from height is the leading cause of construction fatalities. Over the 10 years, such accidents accounted for around 46 percent of all deaths - rising to 64 percent in 2018 alone.

Unlike their predecessors, who used limited safety equipment, Valencia and his colleagues are mostly kitted in full-body harnesses with lines clipped to their backs. Even some of the tools and materials they use are tied off to prevent them from falling.

In most of his videos Valencia and his co-workers can be seen in boots and high-viz, inching along narrow scaffolding boards and guiding aluminum building materials into place with the aid of cranes.

Such videos of high-rise workers have become a sensation on TikTok, with half their viewers terrified by the heights and the other half in awe, asking where they can get hired.

Valencia included the name of Local Union 1556 in his video captions. The union's website suggests its scaffold workers are making just under $50 an hour, while apprentices make just $20.

DailyMail.com reached out to a union representative but did not immediately hear back.

Valencia shows himself at work as he records from the top of skyscrapers overlooking the Hudson River

A co-worker passes Valencia building materials as they stand on narrow boards 1,000 feet above the ground on 3 World Trade Center 

Native American Mohawk ironworkers at work on the Chrysler Building circa 1930

Famous photograph, captured in 1932, shows workers having lunch on the 70 story RCA building in Rockefeller Center

Mohawk ironworkers on Park Avenue in 1970 - they continue to work on steel structures across the city to this day

A Mohawk ironworker on a construction site at the northwest corner of 86th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City