Has a New York Times reporter blown the lid off of manhole production in India? Jesse Russell takes a look:

The photographs are stunning. Indian workers forge manholes out of iron standing barefoot, bare-handed, bare-chested, and bare-headed. All that protects the lower half of their bodies is in some cases thin shorts, but often nothing more than a cloth tied like a skirt. These are the conditions for workers making the manholes for Con Edison and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection. The conditions were discovered when photographer J. Adam Huggins noticed that many of the manholes around New York said "Made in India" and on a trip to the country, he decided to see exactly how they were made. According to the Times report, Con Edison buys 2,750 manhole covers a year from India. Officials commented to the Times that they were surprised by the conditions and that they would “rewrite international contracts to include safety requirements.” When it comes to protective equipment, India’s Factory Safety Act only specifies safety goggles.