My dad's family worked in the coal mines in Northern England. My dad worked there one day and said "That's not for me". So he got into the butcher trade.
My grandfather got hit in the head with a steel beam and died. The company said he had a aneurysm so they wouldn't have to pay out any money to grandma. Lucky dad's brother worked in the mines as well or she would have lost her home because the mining company owned the house. This is before unions of course.
We went into a mine at Beamish which is a mining museum in Northern England. The working conditions were deplorable.