"Cambodia: Fast fashion helps fuel blazing kilns where workers faint from heat,"

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How hot is too hot to work? It is a question researchers have found the answer to here, in Cambodia's brick kilns, where people toil in some of the hottest working conditions in the world, fuelled in part by the scraps of fast fashion.

The BBC spoke to several workers who said they sweat so much through the day that it felt like they were in a hot bath. Fainting is common too, possibly because they become dehydrated. Their names have been changed because they fear reprisals from their employers...

One worker told researchers that he had suffered from heart failure due to the heat. But he eventually returned to work because this was the only way he knew to earn a living.

This is only made worse by a warming climate and Cambodia's own weather - last May it hit a new high with 41.6C during the hottest year on record. As global temperatures soar, even a small increase could mean the difference between life and death for the tens of thousands of brick kiln workers across Asia...

There is no data on the average temperature inside the kilns as it is hard for researchers to gain access. It's also hard to know how many workers fall ill or worse because of the heat.

Injuriesfrom falling bricks are not uncommon, according to Chantrea. And workers told the researchers from the UK that the bricks often burn them, even through the gloves...

But what may initially appear a solution to the unwanted scraps of the country's 1,300 garment factories is actually hiding its own deadly secret...

Most Western fashion labels have strict codes of conduct to stop this from happening. A Disney spokesperson told the BBC that the company was investigating the claim and that it "did not condone the conditions alleged in this situation".

The BBC also found labels from Clarks shoes and H&M among others. Clarks called on the Cambodian ministry of environment to investigate and also invited other affected companies to join forces "in working together with the relevant authorities in Cambodia to eradicate this problem".

H&M acknowledged that traceability is still an issue in Cambodia but said they did have their own waste management guidelines to ensure that fabric waste isn't used as a fuel source by factories, or sent to a landfill...