Citation

Halperin W, Howard J. MMWR Surveill. Summ. 2011; 60(4): 97-103.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, (in public domain), Publisher U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

21976172

Abstract

The major factors that propelled the development of occupational epidemiology since the 1950s have been delineated. They include momentum to control occupational injury that gained national prominence in the wake of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of March 25, 1911, in which 146 young, mostly female immigrant garment workers fell to their deaths while escaping from a fire in a locked sweat shop. This tragedy was a turning point in the nationwide adoption of state-based occupational safety regulations, workers' compensation programs, and federal safety legislation. During the 1930s, federal initiatives in occupational safety and health required contractor compliance, not only with wage and hour laws, but also with federal occupational safety and health regulations. The New Deal built state capacity by funding state industrial hygiene programs. Levenstein reports a diminution of interest in occupational safety and health, except for the Atomic Energy Act in the 1950s, until the 1960s' resurgence in organized labor's political voice. Also, societal reaction to the Farmington, West Virginia, mine disaster of 1968, which killed 78 miners, led to passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and introduced federal regulation and federal inspectors to the mining industry.

Language: en