International Labour Day: Egyptian quarry workers - in pictures

In this stone quarry in El Minia, in Egypt, tens of thousands of Egyptians (including children) work in back-breaking conditions just to make ends meet. Ahmad, 11, works in one of the quarries, throwing chipped bricks into a stone crusher. The bricks are ground into powder for cement, which is used in dyes and pharmaceuticals Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

The work is hazardous and badly paid. Workers get 20 to 30 Egyptian pounds per day ($3-$5), but they work on a demand basis so they may not get a full week’s work every week. The wage is similar to cleaners, security staff, bottom of the ladder civil servants and clerks. However, occupational hazards – such as the high risk of injury in the quarries and the irregularity of employment – make it a far more dangerous sector to work in. There are few alternative employment opportunities. Farming or fishing are the other main sources of income for poor families on the eastern bank of the Nile, but this only brings in between two to 12 Egyptian pounds per day, depending on the season Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

Workers rights are routinely abused, but it’s the long-term and often devastating impact on health that is the biggest issue. The effort of bending and lifting stone blocks all day leaves workers prone to slipped disks and other back problems Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

Asthma, lung and respiratory problems are an inevitable consequence of the dust that gets everywhere. There are no statistics of the number of people who get sick due to working in the quarries. But long-term illnesses are very common among quarry workers Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

Exposed electric cables (to power the stone-cutting machines) can knock unconscious anyone who steps on them. Injuries from accidents in the quarries are very high (from electric shocks or from the cutting machines). Fatalities and major injuries occur almost daily in the 172 registered and 220 unregistered quarries in the area Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

The manically rotating saws on the stone cutters can swing off without warning, cutting or maiming anyone nearby Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

The hard labour wears these workers out and most are unable to work beyond the age of 40. Shifts last for around nine to 10 hours. In the summer they can work from around 4am until around midday, when the heat becomes unbearable. How many days a week they work depends on the demand of the quarry. Often this is between four to six days. Truckers from the quarries turn up daily in communities to pick the men they want for the job Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

Quarry workers do not qualify for state health insurance. They are part of the informal employment sector. Currently, quarry workers and other non-formal sector workers, and small scale producers are not able to pay into the system that would entitle them to health insurance. Mubarak’s government was in the process of reviewing the system. Wadi el Nil, a partner of Christian Aid, supports quarry workers in claiming their rights – to unionisation, collective bargaining, health and safety at work, and health insurance Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

Although child labour is illegal, families who are short of cash send their boys to the quarries, either instead of school or at weekends and in the holidays. In 2008, Egypt amended its child protection law to raise the minimum working ages from 14 to 15 for regular employment and from 12 to 13 for seasonal employment. However, in some cases, children as young as seven are still working in the informal sector. Haytham is 13 and works in one of the stone quarries of El Minia. Wadi el Nil is working to protect children in the quarries. It runs programmes with families of child workers and with schools, to get children back into education Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid

Wadi el Nil also issues protective clothing, gives health and safety training, and targets mothers of child workers for micro-credit and vocational training programmes so that they can increase the family income Photograph: Tabitha Ross/Christian Aid