WORKPLACE SAFETY
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SAFETY
I
n 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire in New York City caused
the death of 146 garment workers.
This was the deadliest industrial
disaster ever in New York City and one
of the deadliest in US history.
The disaster led the state of New York
to create the Factory Investigating
Commission and to the founding of the
American Society of Safety Professionals
(formally known as the ASSE).
The following is an excerpt from the leader
of the Factory Investigation Commission
six months after the fire:
“A man may be killed by a tenement house
as truly as by a club or gun. A man may
be killed by a factory and the unsanitary
conditions in it as surely as may be killed by
a fire. It is not less true that the slaughter
of men and women workers by the slow
process of unsanitary and unhealthful
conditions is not immoral and anti-social,
but the state is beginning to declare that it
is legally indefensible and therefore must,
through carefully considered legislation,
be made virtually impossible . . .. The
so-called unavoidable or unpreventable
accidents which, it is said, were once
believed to be the result of the inscrutable
decrees of Divine Providence [acts of God]
are now seen to be the result in many
cases of unscrupulous greed or human
improvidence.”
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In 1919, New York State adopted the
commission recommendations to set
safety and health rules administratively.
The Factory Investigating Commission
was a turning point in American attitudes
toward social responsibility. These laws
would serve as a model for other states.
Twenty years later, the New Deal passed
similar legislation at the federal level.
The chemical industry was one of the
main targets of the Commission. Their
report stressed that “[i]n no other industry
are perils to the body and dangers to the
health of the workers so many, so insidious
and so deadly.” While a knowledge of the
poisonous products handled was necessary
for workers, there was little attempt to
teach workers the dangers of their jobs.
Workers came in direct contact with lead,
arsenic, phosphorus, mercury, injurious
gasses, irritating dusts, high temperatures,
hot and corrosive liquids, and dangerous
explosives. Few factories even had fan
driven ventilating systems
Years later, the Manufacturers Chemical
Association began publishing chemical
safety data sheets, and the US Department
of Labor published a series of profiles
on dangerous chemicals. The modern
material safety data sheet was developed
later in the 1960's, and by 1987, all
employers were required to provide
information regarding the chemicals used
in the workplace.
In the 1930s, the construction industry
norm was estimating one death for every
million dollars spent on a project. However,
the chief project engineer for the Golden
Gate Bridge, Joseph Strauss, decided to
do something about it. He implemented a
rope-and-mesh safety net under the bridge
roadway structure which saved the lives
of 19 men, who were dubbed members
of the “Halfway-to-Hell Club.” He also
required workers to wear a new product
that just started to become common—the
hard hat. In addition, to prevent inhaling
toxic fumes, riveters were required to wear
respirators.
Other industries such as manufacturing,
railroads, and mining were also fraught
with hazards. To avoid injuries, the only
recourse workers had was to leave their
dangerous jobs, purchase life and accident
insurance, or set aside savings to offset the
income risks from death or injury. In some
cases, unions and fraternal organizations
also offered their members insurance.
In 1908, Congress passed a federal
employers’ liability law that applied to
interstate railroad workers. The law
drastically increased the costs of work
fatalities. Two years later, based on a
European idea, New York became the