Website design By BotEap.comThroughout history, the health and safety movement has been affected by legislation. In the following safety and health timeline, notable events, individuals, and legislative actions are set forth to illustrate the point that the safety professional/practitioner is and has been an important part of those preventive experiences that make up the history of life.

Website design By BotEap.comThe ancient Chinese (c. 2500 BC) spread the risk of loss by placing 1/6 of their harvest on each of six boats traveling to market.

Website design By BotEap.comHammurabi (c. 2000 BC), ruler of Babylon, was responsible for the Code of Hammurabi, part of which resembles today’s workers’ compensation laws.

Website design By BotEap.comThe ancient Egyptians (from 1600 BC) recognized the dangers of breathing the fumes produced by the fusion of silver and gold.

Website design By BotEap.comHippocrates (c 460-c 377 BC), the father of contemporary medicine, established a link between the respiratory problems of Greek stonemasons and the rock dust that surrounded them.

Website design By BotEap.comIn ancient Rome, the few slaves who survived the dangerous task of launching a ship were given their freedom.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1601, the first English statute on “insurance” (an earlier term for insurance) was enacted. This statute covered maritime risks.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1667, the Great Fire of London (September 2-7, 4666) caused the first English fire insurance laws to be enacted.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1700, Bernardino Ramazzini, an Italian physician, published the first thesis that tried to prove the connections between occupation and disease.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1730, Benjamin Franklin organized the first firefighting company in the United States and detected symptoms of lead poisoning with Dr. Evans.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1775, English doctors discovered that chimney sweeps, who were exposed to coal tar residue in their daily work, had a higher incidence of cancer than the general population.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1792, the first charter for marine and fire insurance was issued in the United States.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1812, the War of 1812 Embargo stimulated the development of the New England textile industry and the founding of mutual factory companies. These early insurance companies inspected properties for hazards and suggested loss prevention and control methods to ensure low rates for their policyholders.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1864, the Pennsylvania Mining Safety Act (PMSA) was enacted.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1864, the first accident insurance policy in North America was issued.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1867, the state of Massachusetts instituted the first government-sponsored factory inspection program.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1877, the state of Massachusetts passed a law requiring the protection of dangerous machinery and assumed the authority to enforce factory inspection programs.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1878, the first recorded call by a labor organization for federal occupational safety and health law was heard.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1896, an association to prevent fires and write codes and standards, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), was founded.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1902, the state of Maryland passed the first workers’ compensation law.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1904, the first attempt by a state government to force employers to compensate their employees for on-the-job injuries was nullified when the Supreme Court declared Maryland’s workers’ compensation law unconstitutional.

Website design By BotEap.comOn March 21, 1911, in the Asch Building in New York City, nearly 150 women and girls died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire due to blocked fire exits and inadequate fire suppression systems. A major turning point in history, this fire changed government regulation and laws instituted to protect workers.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1911, a professional and technical organization responsible for developing safety codes for boilers and elevators, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), was founded. Security Code A17 published.

Website design By BotEap.com1911-1915, during this five-year period, 30 states passed workers’ compensation laws.

Website design By BotEap.comOn October 14, 1911, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) was founded in New York City. Originally called the United Society of Accident Inspectors. ASSE was dedicated to the development of accident prevention techniques and the advancement of safety engineering as a profession.

Website design By BotEap.comThe California Railroad Commission, now known as the California Public Utilities Commission, was created by a constitutional amendment to oversee rail safety, including highway/rail crossing safety.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1912, a group of engineers representing insurance companies, industry, and government met in Milwaukee to exchange data on accident prevention. The organization formed at this meeting would become the National Security Council (NSC). (Today, the NSC conducts major safety campaigns for the general public, as well as assists industry in developing safety promotion programs.)

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1916, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of state workers’ compensation laws.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1918 the American Standards Association was founded. Responsible for the development of many voluntary safety standards, some of which are mentioned in law, today it is now called the American National Standards Institute. [ANSI].

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1931 the Uniform Traffic Code was established due to the increase in the speed and volume of motor vehicle traffic and accidents. The code consists of four separate laws: motor vehicle registration, driver’s licenses, automobile anti-theft, and uniform traffic regulations.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1936, Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, called for a federal job safety and health law. This action came a full 58 years after the first recorded request by organized labor for a law of this nature.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1936, the Walsh-Healey (Public Contracts) Act was passed. This law required that all federal contracts be performed in a safe and healthy work environment.

Website design By BotEap.comBy 1948, every state (48 at the time) now had workers’ compensation laws.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1952, the Coal Mine Safety Act (CMSA) was passed.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1960, specific safety regulations for the Walsh-Healey Act were enacted.

Website design By BotEap.comOn January 3, 1961, an accident at an experimental nuclear reactor at a federal facility near Idaho Falls, ID, kills three workers. These were the first fatalities in US nuclear reactor operations.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1966, the Metallic and Non-Metallic Mine Safety Act (MNMSA) was passed.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1966, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and its branches, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were established.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1968, President Lyndon Johnson called for a federal job safety and health law.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1969, the Construction Safety Act (CSA) was passed.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1969, the Board of Certified Security Professionals (BCSP) was established. This organization certifies professionals in the security profession.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) into law, creating the OSHA administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1970, on January 1, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed. This provided a national charter to protect and improve the environment and created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Website design By BotEap.comOn May 29, 1971, the first OSHA standards were adopted to provide a baseline for safety and health protection in American workplaces.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1972, the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) was enacted.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1976, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) was passed and became the instrument by which hazardous waste management is regulated.

Website design By BotEap.comIn 1980, to address the problems of hazardous waste management, the Pollution Liability Insurance Association (PLIA) was formed.

Website design By BotEap.comJanuary 16, 1981 OSHA updates commercial electrical standards to simplify compliance and take a performance approach.

Website design By BotEap.com1991 North Carolina plant fire kills 25 workers and 49 are injured at the Imperial chicken processing plant in Hamlet NC. Employees were trapped inside due to padlocked doors meant to keep vandals out.

Website design By BotEap.comSeptember 11, 2001, 2,886 work-related deaths, including 537 rescue workers, as a result of terrorist attacks on the New York City World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crashing planes.