Audio slideshow of where NYC manhole covers are made

Photojournalist Adam Huggins, who has been living in India for the last five years, visited the factory in Calcutta where New York city manhole covers are made. He made an audio slideshow about his visit for the New York Times. Link (Thanks, Michael!)

[#1 posted by xopl , November 28, 2007 10:45 AM]

What does a NYC manhole cover look like? This:

http://newyork.xopl.com/photos/full/sewerindia.jpg
http://newyork.xopl.com/photos/rejects/nycsewers1.jpg

The fact that they all said "Made in India" on them caught my eye while I was visiting. I have a trip blog for the extremely bored:

http://newyork.xopl.com/

[#2 posted by Landowner , November 28, 2007 11:58 AM]

I think the only safety gear that will help them is several million dollars worth of heavy machinery. If a 2,500 degree drop of metal falls on your foot a boot will be little help. Probably will do more harm than good.

[#3 posted by MrsBug , November 28, 2007 12:36 PM]

You know, I am so torn on stuff like this. On one hand, you have men earning a living, which seems like it could be hard in India with their population and all (somebody edumacate me on this). On the other, I hate the idea that these men don't have the safety equipment that could keep them safer. Though, as #2 mentioned, if that hot drop of metal falls on a safety boot, will it help??

I just read the high summer temperature can be almost 113F. Can you imagine working in a forge at that temperature?!

[#4 posted by tsteele999 , November 28, 2007 1:22 PM]

Didn't you guys read the article? They [i]never[/i] have accidents, so no protective gear is necessary.

[#5 posted by pduggie , November 28, 2007 1:30 PM]

This place looks very much like Hopewell Village National Historic site in Pennsylvania, a late 18th century ironworks, fired by charcoal.

I think they wore boots, though maybe they wouldn't want to if it was 113 degrees.

Ironwork is hot work in any climate. I hope they are well compensated relative to their cost of living.

[#6 posted by forgeweld , November 28, 2007 2:27 PM]

It's a foundry, not a forge and they are casting, not forging metal. I don't know how you can write an article on this and not get that.

[#7 posted by xopl , November 28, 2007 2:29 PM]

I have heard anecdotally that bare skin in these environments is covered with a film of sweat that basically makes small bits of hot metal slide/hop off whereas if the small bits of hot metal hit clothing the clothing will catch fire and cause bad burns.

Any steel workers in the crowd?

[#8 posted by Bottlekid , November 28, 2007 4:03 PM]

Even worse are the stories of the Shipbreakers of India:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/03/60minutes/main2149023.shtml

[#9 posted by Axias , November 29, 2007 7:47 AM]

Dress it up any way you want, this is just another form of slavery. Utilizing cheap labor violates basic tenets of human rights.Equal compensation for equal labor, anything else is exploitation.
/too bad our whole society has overlooked this.

[#10 posted by gandalf23 , November 29, 2007 8:27 AM]

Equal compensation for equal labor

But it's not equal labor.

If the Indian foundry buys the same equipment that a foundry in the west uses, uses workers trained on those machines, and trained in safety, operates with the same safety record as a western foundry, and complies with the same environmental/health/safety/and whatever else regulations as a western foundry then yeah, they'd be doing equal labor. And they'd be paid about the same as a western foundry because all that stuff costs, and costs quite a bit. And if they were on par expense wise with what a foundry in the west charges, why in the world would someone in the west hire them to do the work? When they could get it for the same price locally?

The only reason the foundry is doing business in the west is because they are less expensive, and they are less expensive because they do not have the most modern equipment, are not as safe, and are not as well trained.

[#11 posted by jentink , November 29, 2007 10:10 AM]

I totally dispise the entire American mentality and condescending nature behind these kind of stories (I'm American).

"Oh, we're so much better than everybody else. They're wrong because they're not doing it our way. To hell with someone else's livelihood - they don't wear boots. Let them starve."

[#12 posted by eightway , November 29, 2007 10:27 AM]

rant from a friend whom i forwarded the article:

An interesting article and well done. However, I am a metalworker. I am professionally familiar with every aspect of the work described in this article.

It is difficult for me to imagine a labor that is more intensely difficult and dangerous than casting iron by hand.

I would gladly pay 500.00 American to watch an American white-collar try to handle a ladle of iron in nothing but a lunghi.

The heat from a crucible of molten iron is easily capable of setting nearby objects on fire. It is both dangerous and painful to look at metal when it is this hot, without protection. The sands used to capture the metal are used in great quantities and the silica in the sand breaks down under the heat and creates a potential for silicosis, a devastating respiratory element.

The energy in molten metal is sufficient to generate steam explosions if the poured metal encounters anything that is remotely moist. Pouring metal by hand is ineluctably dangerous. The statement that there are no injuries, never, an obvious self-interested lie or perhaps a wildly divergent definition of injury.

Post casting work, grinding basically, creates a shower of hot sparks that are painful against bare skin and an obvious hazard to people that require their eyesight or hearing, the dust is toxic as well.

That anyone could accept that these conditions are plausible reflects poorly on the acumen of the readership. In short, this is an incredibly dangerous operation. The global "race to the bottom", the constant attack on the wages of labor is directly responsible for conditions like these. The middleman company in NewYork is likely getting 50% of the money for sitting around on phones and forklifts.

New York has a responsibility to the people that labor to make the products they enjoy. I think as we slide into becoming a third world Nation ourselves, and switch to the other end of the leash, the cry for equal rights and equal trade and global fairness will be much, much louder.