Occupational Safety & Health Day – April 28, 2027

History of Occupational Safety & Health Day

Regulation and research in occupational safety and health are relatively recent developments. In response to worker concerns, labor movements emerged in the years after the industrial revolution. The health dangers caused by chemicals, dust, metals, and other disease-causing variables that workers in more than 50 different vocations must contend with were discussed in “De Morbis Diatriba,” which was published in 1700. Early 19th-century concerns about the poor health of children working in cotton mills led to the enactment of the Factory Acts in the United Kingdom.

The Factory Inspectorate Act of 1833 established a dedicated professional factory inspection service. In 1844, a new act was passed in response to the factory inspectorate’s request, limiting the number of hours that women in the textile industry might work. Machine guarding was mandated by industry, but only in the textile sector and in areas where women or children might be present.

When a Royal Commission’s findings on the working conditions for miners were published in 1840, they made clear the dangerous working conditions and high accident rates. The 1842 Mines Act was enacted as a result of the public outcry the commission caused. The statute created a mining inspectorate, leading to prosecutions and increased security. By 1850, inspectors were free to enter and inspect locations as they pleased. Both the first worker’s compensation law and the first social insurance law in the Western world were signed by Otto von Bismarck in 1883 and 1884, respectively.