Health, rights, and work on the margins

Hard physical labour can damage people's health. We have known this from the days when small children were forced to sweep chimneys and got ill or became stuck and died. It is evident in the shortened lifespans of miners. Work can be hazardous, involving exposure to cancer-causing chemicals, such as asbestos and toxic waste, and the structural risks of under-regulated workplaces as in Bangladesh, where more than 1100 people died in the collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factories in 2013.