Pipe cleaners
Don't you come near me, you dirty cleanie! Take your filter and go away, you're spoiling the rest of them!
The Silo lives cut off of the outside world, but at the same time it depends on it. To achieve this, a large number of pipes run down the inverted tower like a network of intertwined threads. Most of them are used to bring down the coolant fluid or as the output of all the Silo's waste. Due to the ascending motion of the waste and the poor state of the pipes, they regularly get clogged and require being manually cleaned.
Little hands
The pipes come in all shapes and size, but most are, at the surface, too small for an adult to pass through. Luckily, no age is too young to start working up there. Thus, children from age 7 to 16 are sent into the tin maze with rakes and small flamethrowers to get rid of the most tenacious filth. The most dangerous waste is burnt elsewhere, so they don't risk being irradiated or intoxicated through their gas mask. It is still a very unsanitary job, and the masks do a poor job of keeping the small away from them. The longer a pipe has been left unattended, the more likely a cleaner is to pass out before even starting to get to work. And since there are more pipes than workers, some accumulate the waste that become biohazard.
Danger of the job
The accumulation of refuse is bound to attract an undesirable fauna. Rats as big as a dog, flies able to carry whole trash bags and other animals that are more deserving of the name monster. While rare, the disappearance of a worker is not unheard of. Most of the time, they get jumped on by a rat pack and nothing but their bones will be left for the next one to find. Accidents were far more frequent before, but since they have been given properly working flamethrowers, the children are now able to run away while flaming the pipe to keep away the rodents. Most of the time.
Filthy
Pipes are dirty and smelly, but it goes even beyond. A workday in a pipe is around 4 to 5 hours, which is enough for the small to get embedded in their clothes, sometimes permanently. There is not much in the way of clothe change or washing up there, so they are stuck with what they are wearing until their clothes become too tight. Then only can they get the wardrobe of an older child who also gets new clothes. Pipe cleaners are shunned in most districts, their unbearable smell making everyone turn away from them.
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