Safe and healthy workplaces are often taken for granted in the United

States. But today’s safety-conscious factory floors and well-lit offices are a
relatively recent invention of modern society—a direct result of efforts made
by those working in the field of occupational health and safety.

Dedicated to studying and preventing workplace injuries and illnesses, the

field of occupational health and safety is responsible for the overwhelmingly-
positive outcomes achieved for American workers over the past 200 years. 1

Dangerous machinery and poorly ventilated factories, once commonplace,

have made way for safer, cleaner environments for employees. The
combination of legislation, executive branch regulation, and self-regulation
by responsible businesses has transformed the American workplace.

As a result, accident and fatality rates across most industries have

dropped steadily for decades—a trend that continues even today.2

Occupational health and safety is the field of public health that studies

trends in illnesses and injuries in the worker population and proposes and
implements strategies and regulations to prevent them. Its scope is broad,
encompassing a wide variety of disciplines—from toxicology and
epidemiology to ergonomics and violence prevention.3

Historically, the focus of occupational health and safety efforts have been on
manual labor occupations, such as factory workers. But the field now
encompasses all occupations in the United States.

In addition to ensuring our work environments (from construction sites to

office buildings) have safety precautions in place to prevent injuries, experts
in occupational health also work to limit both short-term and long-term
hazards that could lead to physical or mental illness now or in the future.
Nearly three million people suffer some kind of serious work-related injury or
illness every year in the United States.2 Millions more are exposed to
environmental health hazards that could cause issues years from now.

Workers' compensation claims total more than a billion dollars a week. 4 That
doesn’t even account for the loss of wages and other indirect expenses, such
as decreased productivity and the psychological toll of experiencing or caring
for someone with an injury.

With the exception of self-employed individuals and relatives of

farmworkers, nearly all employers both private and public have a social and
legal responsibility to establish and maintain a safe and healthy
environment.

Some are happy to comply for ethical reasons or because injuries and
illnesses can lead to lost productivity, turnover, and higher employer-
subsidized health insurance premiums. It is common for larger employers to
establish their own workplace health and safety initiatives that exceed
regulatory requirements. 

History
The idea that workplaces in the United States should be required to adhere
to a minimum set of safety and health standards isn’t all that controversial—
but it wasn’t always that way.

Working conditions for the average American have improved in fits and
starts over the last 150 years, with major economy-altering safety
legislation passed and a steady stream of various lesser regulations enacted
under both major U.S. political parties in recent decades. 5
In the wake of the Civil War, factories started to crop up all across the
United States. Often staffed by young, highly inexperienced workers, the
factories were perilous places to work.

Stories compiled in an 1872 report by the state of Massachusetts’ Bureau of

Labor detailed many grisly incidents where workers lost limbs or were killed
due to inadequate equipment and physically demanding tasks. 6

In addition to the dangerous equipment and machines, the facilities were

dirty and poorly ventilated. Opening windows would reportedly disrupt the
materials inside the factories, so they remained closed, leaving workers to
breathe in chemical fumes and accumulated dust day in and day out.

In response to the 1872 report and compiled statistics, Massachusetts

became the first U.S. state to require factory inspections that included
verifying, among other things, fire exits were in place at each facility. 7 Other
states quickly followed suit. By 1890, 21 states had some kind of law in the
books limiting health hazards in the workplace. 8

While these efforts were a step in the right direction, it was a messy
assortment of laws and regulations. Rules differed from state to state and
weren’t always enforced.

States with more relaxed policies attracted businesses away from stricter
states, and a push was made to scale back regulations. A back and forth
progression began as the public demanded stricter laws and businesses
fought to loosen them. 

The piecemeal assortment of regulations finally came to a head in December

of 1970 when then-President Richard Nixon signed into law the Occupational
Safety and Health Act, becoming the first far-reaching federal law to protect
American workers.
The law gave the U.S. government authority to write and enforce safety and
health standards for nearly all of the country's workforce. 8 Shortly after, the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was established to
oversee the implementation of the new law.