Wish I could get the family albums with all my grandpa's pics from the Sydney Steel Mill. Michael R. Campbell (my paternal grandpa) ran it during WW2, and when Princess Lizzy went over in the Early 50's, she thanked my grandpa. Got a pic of it, and its in this National Film board clip, but toward the end:
http://www.nfb.ca/film/royal_journey
The high shot of the machining bay reminds me of the shot from League of Extraordinary Men, when they look down into the bay where the tanks are being made, 'cept this shot is to the right, the film-shot is to the left.
And yea... no safety gear... just coveralls, and ~sometimes~ gloves. Then again, with the world going all PC and litigation-happy, you have secrretaries suing for paper cuts... *sigh*
Pretty soon, we won't have to machine things, we'll be programming nanites to grow lattice-metals... but probably not in our lifetimes. Our childrens, sure.