It is not necessarily true that working today is safer than in the past and ensure people their rights.

According to the Article “Child Labour” adapted from http://globalvillage2006.org/en/find_out_about/child_exploitation/child_labour,  

The International Labour Organization has estimated that 250 millions children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries, and at least 120 millions of these on a full time basis.

Some of the children are involved in dangerous labour that could harms their development physically. As a consequence it is not ensured their life and if they do survive, they cannot be children, since they are forced to work to help their family to survive. They cannot go to school and have a decent education, they cannot play or relax as regular children.  

It follows that even though the government has made laws asking employers to look after their employees, it is not guaranteed they will be implemented; above all, their rights as children and human beings are not implemented because they have to face any kind of struggle at work in order to have the minimum food to survive.

As a result the modern society can be compared to the Industrial Revolution era when laws didn’t exist and so working in factory could prove to be very dangerous.

As the extract from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?… tells, during the Victorian era, children were used in factories or mines or as chimney sweeps. They worked long hours in narrow places too low for adults. The reason why they had to work was the same as in the modern society: poverty. They were expected to help towards the family budget.

However, during the Industrial Revolution era, children coming from poor family had to leave school at the age of eight to go to work. In the modern society they can even start working at the age of five without going to school.

It is not true that in the modern society workers are more protected than in the past as a result of laws. Laws are not implemented and in a condition of poverty, families are forced to make their children work to survive.