MANDALAY — At private quarries in a village off the Mandalay-Lashio road, workers risk their health just to make ends meet.
Many workers reportedly suffer from serious lung disease as a result of inhaling stone particles daily at quarries in Ohn Chaw village, near Mandalay. There, quarry workers earn a maximum of 4,000 kyat [about US$3] a day, and underage workers earn just over $2—an amount too little to take proper care of their consequential health problems.
As daily wage earners the workers cannot afford to take sick leave because it means they will not get much-needed money to sustain their lives.
Despite the fact that the job involves high health risks, there is no compensation plan in place for the workers.
Most of the workers are internal migrants who return to their homes for treatment when their health problems become unbearable. Some workers have died from working in the mining quarries, but none have received compensation, said workers.
