History of Occupational Safety and Health

Ontario Occupational Health & Safety Act was originally modeled after the British

Factory Act from the 17th century. Ontario introduced the Factory Act of 1884 which was the

first OH&S Act. This Act was important in that it suggested prohibitions on the work activities

of children and women and suggested work hour restrictions for all employees. However, its

was extremely vague in definition and totally unenforceable. It was a beginning, but in reality,

the Factory Act of 1884 did little to protect the worker. Employers favoured the Act as it did

not clearly intend to limit production, yet made production safer or so it seemed. Eighty long

years passed by with this little safe guard in place. In 1960, a disastrous accident that caused

the deaths of five workers changed the face of safety regulations forever. A new definition is

SAFETY was introduced to the Factory Act of 1884 and the name changed to the Industrial

Safety Act of 1964.

The research and regulation of occupational safety and health are a relatively recent

phenomenon. As a labour movement arose in response to worker concerns in the wake of the

industrial revolution, worker's health entered consideration as a labour-related issue. Before the

Industrial Revolution began in 1760, it was the norm to make a living through agriculture or

the making and selling of products from the home. With a new developments in machinery and

manufacturing processes, Britain, followed by parts of Europe and the US, began moving

towards a society fuelled by mass production and the factory system. People flocked to the

cities for work where there were increased opportunities for employment in the new mills and

factories.The vast number of people looking for work, and the need for cheap labour, led to

poor pay, hazardous factory conditions and an increase in child labour. Hours were long and

conditions dangerous, with many losing their lives at work.

 In the United Kingdom, the Factory Acts of the early nineteenth century from

1802 onwards arose out of concerns about the poor health of children working in cotton mills

the Act of 1833 created a dedicated professional Factory Inspectorate. The initial remit of the

Inspectorate was to police restrictions on the working hours in the textile industry of children

and young persons which is introduced to prevent chronic overwork, identified as leading

directly to ill-health and deformation, and indirectly to a high accident rate. However, on the

urging of the Factory Inspectorate, a further Act in 1844 giving similar restrictions on working

hours for women in the textile industry introduced a requirement for machinery guarding but

only in the textile industry, and only in areas that might be accessed by women or children.

Parliament passed a further Factories Act which in effect was the first health and

safety act in Britain. All dangerous machinery was to be securely fenced off, and failure to do

so regarded as a criminal offence. In this case, no child or young person was to clean mill

machinery while it was in motion. This Act limited the hours worked by children to six and a

half, with three hours' schooling, and set a maximum 12-hour day for young people between

13 and 18. The 12-hour rule also applied to women.

The Anthony Ashley-Cooper are continued his campaign for a ten-hour day for

women and young people aged between 13 and 18, which finally achieved its objective in the

1847 Factory Act. However, it had to be followed up by further Acts to remove ambiguities

regarding definition of the working day that were still being exploited by factory owners and

employers.
 Furthermore, another significant measure for the Factory Act of 1867, took

the important step of applying existing legislation to all other factories where 50 or more people

were employed. It also brought regulation to other specified industries regardless of numbers

employed, namely, blast furnaces, iron and steel mills, glass, paper making, tobacco, printing

and bookbinding. The 1867 Act was therefore a further landmark measure in bringing some

improvement, for the first time, to the working conditions of labouring people in factories and

workshops throughout the country. But since the Act made so many more places of work liable

to official inspection, it proved difficult to enforce.

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, In the same year as the Occupational Safety and

Health Act was introduced, the Employed Persons (Health and Safety) Bill was introduced in

the UK. However, debate around the bill generated a belief that it did not address fundamental

workplace safety issues. Following the passing of the Act in the US, a committee of inquiry

was established in the UK. It wasn’t until 1974 that the Health and Safety at Work Act was

passed. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was a revolutionary piece of legislation that

forms the basis of health and safety legislation across the world today. Unlike previous acts in

the UK, the Health and Safety as Work Act encompassed all industries and employees.

The Act places responsibility on both the employer and employee to ensure the

health, safety and wellbeing of individuals across all workplaces, and members of the public

who could be effected by work activities. The act also lead to the creation of the UK’s Health

and Safety Executive (HSE), which was put in place to regulate and reinforce UK legislation.

Changes in the workplace as a result of the Act, saw an incredible 73% reduction in the number

of workplace fatalities between 1974 and 2007. Non-fatal injuries also fell by 70%.
 The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, still forms the basis of workplace safety

law in the UK, and went on to influence legislation in Europe, New Zealand and other parts of

the world. While the principles have largely remained the same, the Act continues to see

updates and reforms alongside the evolution of the workplace and new health and safety

challenges that arise. Fortunately, the explosion of the internet and rapid developments in

technology, has made managing health and safety in the workplace more efficient then it has

ever been before. While countries around the world continue to work to reduce workplace

accidents and fatalities, StaySafe are excited to be a part of the expansion of safety

technologies, used to increase workplace safety and businesses efficiency.