foundry worker, UK
You may think that some things are standard in a foundry, say, a heat-resistant uniform. Or footwear.

Foundry workers, India (photo by J. A.dam Huggins)

You’d be wrong. This New York Times article about the manufacture of New York’s manhole covers in India illustrates just how wrong you would be. Workers in this foundry have to make do without “the luxury of Europe and the United States, with all the boots and all that”.

Of course, the lack of even basic protection is proof of how dangerous their work is, how normal sub-standard conditions are, how little institutional responsibility there is and how dangerous life can be. All of these would have an impact on how people think and behave but it’s only when you see it in such extreme circumstances that it really becomes apparent.

This is why we use film as our primary form of reporting, because we believe that we need to see for yourself how different life can be - and its often the things taken for granted as universals.

Full multimedia show from The New York Times here.