Two women in northeastern China filmed cleaning windows outside an 11th-floor flat without safety harnesses have renewed debate on workplace safety in a country where deaths from falls remain common.

The viral video taken by a neighbour in an opposite building in Songyuan, Jilin province, showed the women standing on a windowsill wearing aprons and face masks and no safety equipment, media outlet Farmer Channel reported.

One of the women was filmed completely outside the building, using one hand to clean and the other to hold the window frame to avoid falling to the street below.

“They are not even equipped with any safety harnesses. They are too audacious!” The unidentified neighbour exclaimed in the video.

The neighbour said the sight of the two women without any safety gear was concerning and caused him to, “break out into a cold sweat”.

“Their behaviour is not responsible for themselves or their families,” he said.

The video of the women’s risky window cleaning has been viewed four million times on Douyin and drew heated criticism.

“They are ignorant and fearless,” one person said.

“If they fell down, the house owner who hired them to clean the windows would also meet with bad luck as they would be held accountable. Don’t let these ignorant people do this,” another said.

A third person said: “It seems like their lives are cheaper than safety gear which only costs a few dozen yuan.”

In January, a cleaner in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region died after falling from 12 storeys while cleaning windows. His manager was later prosecuted for dereliction of safety supervision when it emerged the worker did not use any safety equipment at the time.

Last year, another man, in his 50s, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province fell while cleaning the windows of his 18th-floor home and died.

 - SCMP