During the mid-19th century Industrial Revolution, the average lifespan of workers in Manchester was 17 years because cotton mills, coal mines, iron-works, and brick factories all had bad air, which caused chest diseases, coughs, blood-spitting, hard breathing, pains in chest, and sleepless nights for the workers. Housing for the workers was overcrowded and unclean, making it suitable for the hazards of typhoid, cholera and smallpox.