Why Occupational Health and Safety?

 

I’m sure we have all heard of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) but have you ever wondered why we have it and why it was started?  Ok, well I know, honestly, you probably haven’t but I wanted to delve into this topic, so that you know more about what we do, and why we do it for clients.

OSHA was given a federal start on December 29, 1970 by President Nixon after a 3 year struggle with the legislative offices started by President Johnson.  Even though it was given this federal start in 1970, occupational health and safety had been an ongoing battle for over 100 years.

 In 1877, Massachusetts was the first state to pass a state level factory inspection law to help protect the workers against the large number of grisly deaths that were occurring every year.  Nine other states soon followed, but there was so many loopholes with the laws that they weren’t always effective.  Some businesses left states that were too strict for ones that weren’t, and often times inspectors weren’t even allowed in to the business due to politics. 

In 1907, a study was conducted in Alleghany County, PA that found that workers who were injured or killed on the job bore the economic impact of accidents, even though most accidents were the fault of the businesses.  In 1908, thanks in part to that study, Congress passed the first worker’s compensation act for federal employees (with the support of President Teddy Roosevelt).  By 1911, Wisconsin passed the first state worker’s compensation program and by 1921 the rest of the states followed suit.  Still, there was very little incentive for employers to participate as the rates for the insurance were not all that much lower for safe companies versus unsafe ones.

It wasn’t until 1933 that things finally started to move in the right direction for OSHA.  In that year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected the first woman cabinet member as Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins.  Frances had extensive knowledge in occupational health and safety working with the state of New York.  In 1934, she created the Bureau of Labor standards to make workplaces “as safe as science and law can make them.”  This bureau was followed by the Social Security Act of 1935, the Walsh-Haley Public Contracts Act of 1936, and the Fair Labors Standard Act of 1938.

Now of course there were new rules and laws to enforce, and by the 1960’s there were many companies that opposed what was happening. More studies were being done that showed the health of workers still was not being taken into consideration.  States felt they were being undermined by the federal authorities during inspections.  By 1969, President Nixon presented his version of a job safety and health proposal to Congress.  His proposal set a 5 person board to oversee the job safety and health standards being set.  Of course there were some supporters of the proposal, and some against it, but by 1970 the version we know now was agreed on, and set into motion. Since then, government officials have made changes according to the standards set in each individual section, as brought about by further understanding and knowledge of the industries they effect. Workers safety is now more than talk.

It took almost 100 years from the first idea that workers needed to be protected to the time when an actual solution was finally found, but with that first idea we have come a long way.  People from every job type; nurses, manufacturers, and steel workers, have the knowledge that the companies they work for will help protect them from needless accidents that used to claim the lives of so many.  As with any law there is always going to be updates and changes, but it’s good to know we have avenues to take for our safety along with those we work with.