First, 500 fatalities were not saved by this, so your point errs quickly into strawman territory.
And people do die all the time in construction etc. - there are already risks, but they are low.
There are zero construction projects going on planet earth today that need to increase the level of risk such that 100 people die trying.
Not even China is putting people down in those numbers for any reason.
It's basically a non-starter - there's no reason for anyone to die these days building pretty much anything, other than in the most precarious situations.
Well yeah, 500 fatalities were not saved because this was not built. Nor have 100 people died building this hypothetical project. The example is an illustration, the absolute numbers are irrelevant.
The points is, even if people die building a big project, it's quite possible that that's for the greater good and more people are saved as a result.
A bunch of people died in the Apollo missions. Does that mean we should have never attempted it and let the Russians figure out how to get to the moon? There's no way it would fly politically these days.
And people do die all the time in construction etc. - there are already risks, but they are low.
There are zero construction projects going on planet earth today that need to increase the level of risk such that 100 people die trying.
Not even China is putting people down in those numbers for any reason.
It's basically a non-starter - there's no reason for anyone to die these days building pretty much anything, other than in the most precarious situations.