My company has people who retire at 40 with full pension. To get that though you have to work in some nasty conditions for 20 years. We do our best to make it safe, but there is only so much you can do to make liquid iron safe. I retire at 65 like most people: developing software is not nearly as nasty.
I'm reading Garbage Land at the moment and she mentions that garbage collectors have an incredibly dangerous job, more dangerous than policemen or firemen, for example.
They're risking their lives to do a necessary job, and in that case I see no problem with the early retirement.
