As the nature of American jobs has changed, workplace safety standards have changed too.
In the early days of the U.S., most people worked on family farms. Safety was the worker’s responsibility and on-the-job injuries were typically treated at home. Even well into the 19th century, as the Industrial Revolution took hold, employers were held to a low standard of accountability. Companies were not considered to be responsible for an injury if
– a worker had any role in causing his or her own injury,
– a fellow employee’s negligence contributed to it, or
– a worker knew the job was dangerous before signing on with the company.
Many industries required workers to sign away their right to sue before they were hired.
Workers’ groups began investigating unsafe jobsites and pressing for reforms in the 1830s. It took decades for them to succeed in passing the first factory safety law, the Massachusetts Factory Act of 1877. Soon other states adopted similar legislation and established inspection units to enforce standards.
Still, it took the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 to bring the real hazards of factory work into the headlines and inspire national reforms. The factory was on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of a Manhattan building. When it caught fire, the workers discovered the emergency exits were locked. The fire killed 146 people, most of them young immigrant women. In its aftermath, New York adopted tougher worker safety laws that became a model for other states.
Several more decades went by before Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1970. Charged with protecting worker safety nationwide OSHA remains the go-to agency for addressing workplace hazards. The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects data on job-related injuries and illnesses, while the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health studies and issues recommendations on ways to keep the workplace safe and healthy. for worker safety.
Key Dates
1877 Massachusetts Factory Act is the first state workers’ safety law.
1888 Congress establishes Bureau of Labor.
1905 In the Martin v. Wabash case, a federal court rules a railroad is not responsible for a loose handrail that caused a conductor to fall from a train, because it was the conductor’s job to inspect the train.
1906 Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle, a novel that graphically depicts the dangers of meat-packing plants.
1908 President Taft signs the Federal Employers Liability Act. The nation’s first workers compensation law protects railroad employees involved in interstate commerce.
1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factor fire kills 146 and draws national attention to dangerous factories.
1913 President Taft elevates the Department of Labor to Cabinet level.
1917 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states may require companies to compensate injured workers.
1970 President Nixon signs law creating OSHA.
1990 President Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act, requiring employers to accommodate workers with disabilities
2012 OSHA begins drafting a rule requiring employers to adopt Injury and Illness Prevention Programs.