National Academies Press: OpenBook

Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel (2000)

Chapter: Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health

« Previous: Appendix B Statement on Committee Composition by Committee Member James A. Oppold
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
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C

Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health

1700

Bernardino Ramazzini, widely considered the “father of industrial medicine,” publishes his first book on occupational diseases, De Morbis Artificum Diatriba (The Diseases of Workmen).

1812

North America’s first accident insurance policy is issued.

1864

The Pennsylvania Mine Safety Act passes into law.

1867

Phillipa Flowerday is hired by the firm of J. & J. Colman in Norwich, Great Britain. Her employment at this mustard company is considered the earliest recorded evidence of a company specifically hiring an industrial nurse.

The first recorded call by a labor organization for U.S. occupational safety and health law is heard.

The state of Massachusetts institutes the first government-sponsored factory inspection program.

1888

Betty Moulder of Pennsylvania works with coal miners.

1895

Vermont Marble Company initiates Industrial Nursing Service with Ada Mayo Stewart as the industrial nurse.

1896

The National Fire Protection Association is founded to prevent fires and to write codes and standards.

1897

Great Britain passes a workmen’s compensation act for occupational injuries. English legislators would later (1906) extend the aegis of the act to encompass occupational diseases.

1902

The state of Maryland passes the first workers’ compensation law.

The first attempt by a state government to force employers to

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×

 

compensate their employees for on-the-job injuries is overturned when the U.S. Supreme Court declares Maryland’s workers’ compensation law to be unconstitutional.

1906

First systematic survey of workplace fatalities in the United States is conducted in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

1907

Largest coal mining disaster in U.S. history takes place in Monongah, West Virginia.

1908

Alice Hamilton, M.D., the first physician to devote herself to research in industrial medicine, publishes her first article about occupational diseases in the United States.

1911

First U.S. worker’s compensation laws are enacted.

A professional, technical organization, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, responsible for developing safety codes for boilers and elevators, is founded.

National Organization for Public Health Nursing is formed.

1912

National Council for Industrial Safety is established. Originally organized to collect data and promote accident prevention programs, it became the National Safety Council in 1913.

1913

Industrial nurses registry is established in Boston.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes data that show a rate of 61 industrial deaths per 100,000 workers.

1914

The U.S. Public Health Service establishes the Office of Industrial Hygiene and Sanitation. Its primary function is research in occupational health. After several name changes it became the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 1971.

1916

The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of state workers’ compensation laws.

The American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons is formed. It later became the American Occupational Medicine Association, then the American College of Occupational Medicine, and finally, in 1991, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

1917

First industrial nursing course is offered at Boston University College of Business Administration.

1918

The American Standards Association is founded. Responsible for the development of many voluntary safety standards, some of which are referenced into laws, today it is known as the American National Standards Institute.

1919

Alice Hamilton, M.D., is appointed assistant professor of industrial medicine at Harvard Medical School, the first woman to be on the faculty of Harvard University.

First book on industrial nursing is written by Florence Wright.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×

1935

Social Security Act of 1935 is passed. This act provided funds for state industrial programs.

1936

Walsh-Healey Act for worker health and safety standards is enacted, setting safety and health standards for employers receiving federal contracts over $10,000.

1937

Godfrey publishes one of the first statements on the need for public health involvement in accident prevention in the American Journal of Public Health.

The Council on Industrial Health of the American Medical Association is created.

An estimated 2,200 nurses are working in the industry.

1938

American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists is formed.

1939

American Industrial Hygiene Association is formed.

1942

Gordon formalizes concept that epidemiology could be used as a theoretical foundation for accident prevention.

DeHaven describes structural environments as a primary cause of injury in falls from heights.

American Association of Industrial Nurses is founded with Catherine Dempsey as the first President.

1943

Army directives are created for the establishment of industrial medical programs in all Army-owned and operated plants, arsenals, depots, and ports of embarkation.

American Public Health Association Committee on Administrative Practice appoints a subcommittee on accident prevention; the subcommittee reports accident prevention programs in six state and two local health departments.

1946

The American Academy of Occupational Medicine is founded. Its membership comprises full-time physicians in occupational medicine. It merges with the American Occupational Medicine Association in 1988 to form the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

1948

All states (48 at the time) have workers’ compensation laws.

1950

The first doctorates of industrial medicine are conferred upon three graduates of the University of Pittsburgh.

1952

The Coal Mine Safety Act passes into law.

1953

Human Factors in Air Transportation is published by McFarland. Industrial Nursing Journal begun; it later became the Occupational Health Nursing Journal and then AAOHN Journal.

1955

First annual Stapp conferences on the biomechanics of crashes are held.

American Board on Preventive Medicine recognizes occupational

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×

 

medicine as a subspecialty, with its own certification requirements.

1956

Accident Prevention Program is initiated by the U.S. Public Health Service.

1959

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is founded.

1960

Specific safety standards are promulgated for the Walsh-Healey Act.

1961

American Public Health Association publishes Accident Prevention: The Role of Physician and Public Health Workers.

1964

Passage of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act greatly expands the powers of federal inspectors. It served as a model for the 1970 Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Journal of Safety Research begins publication.

Haddon, Suchman, and Klein publish Accident Research: Methods and Approaches.

Eleven schools of public health develop training programs in injury prevention funded by the U.S. Public Health Service.

The four major U.S. auto manufacturers install front-seat lap belts as standard equipment.

1966

Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society is published by the National Research Council.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and its sections, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National

Transportation Safety Board, are established.

1968

President Lyndon Johnson calls for a federal occupational safety and health law.

1969

Mine Safety and Health Act becomes law.

The Construction Safety Act is passed into law.

Board of Certified Safety Professionals, which certifies practitioners in the safety profession, is established.

Graduate programs in occupational health nursing begin.

1970

Occupational Safety and Health Act is passed into law.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are established.

1972

Black Lung Benefits Act is enacted.

Accreditation Board for Occupational Health Nursing is established.

1974

The Industrial Medical Association becomes the American Occupational Medicine Association.

1977

Mine Safety and Health Administration is established to administer the provisions of the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

American Association of Industrial Nurses is renamed as American Association of Occupational Health Nurses.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×

1980

First population-based and emergency room-based injury surveillance system is implemented in the United States (Massachusetts and Ohio).

1985

Injury in America: A Continuing Public Health Problem is published by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.

1988

The American Academy of Occupational Medicine and the American Occupational Medical Association merge to become the American College of Occupational Medicine.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration hires its first occupational health nurse.

Role of the Primary Care Physician in Occupational and Environmental Medicine published by the Institute of Medicine.

1991

Disability in America: Toward a National Agenda for Prevention is published by the Institute of Medicine.

Addressing the Physician Shortage in Occupational and Environmental Medicine is published by the Institute of Medicine.

1992

Americans with Disabilities Act is passed.

1993

Injury Control in the 1990s: A National Plan for Action is published by the Centers for Disease Control.

1998

American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Foundation established.

1999

Reducing the Burden of Injury is published by the Institute of Medicine.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×
Page 236
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×
Page 237
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×
Page 238
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×
Page 239
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Significant Events in the History of Occupational Safety and Health." Institute of Medicine. 2000. Safe Work in the 21st Century: Education and Training Needs for the Next Decade's Occupational Safety and Health Personnel. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9835.
×
Page 240
Next: Appendix D Locations of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and Training Program Grants (TPGs) »
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Despite many advances, 20 American workers die each day as a result of occupational injuries. And occupational safety and health (OSH) is becoming even more complex as workers move away from the long-term, fixed-site, employer relationship.

This book looks at worker safety in the changing workplace and the challenge of ensuring a supply of top-notch OSH professionals. Recommendations are addressed to federal and state agencies, OSH organizations, educational institutions, employers, unions, and other stakeholders.

The committee reviews trends in workforce demographics, the nature of work in the information age, globalization of work, and the revolution in health care delivery—exploring the implications for OSH education and training in the decade ahead.

The core professions of OSH (occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and occupational medicine and nursing) and key related roles (employee assistance professional, ergonomist, and occupational health psychologist) are profiled—how many people are in the field, where they work, and what they do. The book reviews in detail the education, training, and education grants available to OSH professionals from public and private sources.

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