"‘I feel dizzy but I can’t stop’: global heating is already making kiln workers’ lives unbearable. And it will only get worse"

I work with fire. But this has been the hottest ever, even for me,” says Harilal Rajput ...

It is almost 1pm on a June afternoon and neither Rajput nor the nine fire workers he supervises have had any food since the previous night. They will eat only when their eight-hour shift ends at about 4pm ...

When the Guardian visits the kiln in the middle of India’s longest ever heatwave, Patna clocks 42.2C (108F). But Rajput says it feels twice as hot on top of the kiln where he works, adding coal to a small brick firing zone of 35 neatly arranged holes.

“I often feel dizzy, my throat goes dry and I shiver as my body heats up, but our firing work cannot stop,” he says.

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... The sector is not organised and is under-regulated. It offers seasonal employment to informal workers, mostly migrants, and often sees cases of bonded labour ...

Kiln workers, who almost always work and live on the same premises, face the double blow of rising atmospheric temperatures and high heat that radiates from the furnace. During the hot season, kiln workers reported symptoms of “heat strain, reduced productivity, and impacts on daily life”, according to a 2015 study.

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New research by the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham in England shows that brick kiln workers are among the most vulnerable to human-caused global heating ...

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Most kiln workers are paid piecemeal so may be reluctant to take breaks for fear of losing pay, making them particularly vulnerable to heatstroke, dehydration and long-term disease.

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