Manholes

News of the random. I found this photo-essay and accompanying article on the NY Times website this morning. Ever wonder where the ubiquitous manhole covers of NYC come from? As it turns out, they're made in India. The article and photos demonstrate the casting process used to create them. Imagine carting around molten iron from an open furnace when the temperature is over 100 F outside! To cope, the workers are usually wearing nothing more than a simple wrap - no shoes, no smocks, no gloves, no goggles. The article devotes some paragraphs on the workplace safety issues this raises, and compares it to foundries in the U.S. Another interesting example of the globalized economy.



I actually drafted this blog post back in November of 2007, when this article was actually fresh and new. Ah well, it's still a cool story!