Module 6 – Impacts of Tragedies and Society • Brief History of OSH • Hippocrates (460-377 BC) • Pliny the Elder (23-70 AD) • Ulrich Ellenborg (1473) • A German physician, he recognized the dangers of metal fumes, described symptoms and preventive measures.
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Module 6 – Impacts of Tragedies and Society Brief History of OSH Hippocrates (460-377 BC) Pliny the Elder (23-70 AD) Ulrich Ellenborg (1473) A German physician,
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Module 6 – Impacts of Tragedies and Society• Brief History of OSH
• Hippocrates (460-377 BC)
• Pliny the Elder (23-70 AD)
• Ulrich Ellenborg (1473) • A German physician, he recognized the dangers of
metal fumes, described symptoms and preventive measures.
History of OSH• Paracelsus (1493-1541)
• Paracelsus is best known today as the “Father of Toxicology” because of his observations of dose and response:
“All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy.”
History of OSH• Agricoloa (1494-1555)
•He noted the need to provide ventilation for miners•“Some mines are so dry that they are entirely devoid of water and this dryness causes the workmen even greater harm, for the dust, which is stirred and beaten up by digging, penetrates into the windpipe and lungs, and produces difficulty in breathing and the disease the Greeks call asthma. If the dust has corrosive qualities, it eats away the lungs and implants consumption in the body. In the Carpathian mountains women are found who have married seven husbands, all of whom this terrible consumption has carried off to a premature death.”
History of OSH• Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714)
• Italian physician, known as the “patron saint of industrial medicine”.
• His book,The Diseases of Workmen, described the symptoms of mercury and lead poisoning and issues with silica
• . Advised physicians to learn about occupational diseases by studying the work environment, and exhorted them to always ask their patients “Of what trade are you?”
History of OSH
• Sir George Baker (1722-1809) • Discovered that “Devonshire colic” was caused by
lead contamination in cider.
• Percival Pott (1714-1788) • A London physician, he was the first to link
occupational exposure to cancer. • Scrotal cancer among chimney sweeps, caused by soot
• Sir Humphry Davy (1788-1829) • Investigated problems of mine explosions and
developed the first miner’s safety lamp.
History of OSH• Dr. Alice Hamilton (1869-1970)
• First woman faculty member at Harvard University (1919).
• A social activist who worked to improve occupational health and safety.
• Her autobiography “Exploring the Dangerous Trades” details her experiences in the mines and mills across America (for example, she writes of deplorable conditions in Salt Lake City area mines).
• http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hamilton/hamhist.html
Question???• Why do we think or believe work is not risky (unsafe)?
• Think Sandman
• When do We learn of Occupational Safety Incidents?
• At least 476 men died estimates as high as 1500 deaths by silicosis
• Most victims were African-American men given the undesirable work in the tunnel
• Silica exposures were so high men were dying from acute silicosis from only two months exposure
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmBsXzkj4I
Tragedies
• 1944 – Port Chicago CA• 320 killed when 4600 tons of munitions
explode loading a ship.
• 1944 – East Ohio Gas Co. – Cleveland Ohio• 130 die as result gas exploding in sewers in
residential area
Tragedies
• 1947 – S.S. Grandcamp Texas City TX• Explosion following fire of Ammonium Nitrate
(fertilizer)• 581 killed (entire fire department from Texas City)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TworcINhDhQ• http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=V8_Ka
Wg5bI8
Tragedies
• 1965 – Titan II Missile Silo Searcy AK• Electrical fire and explosion trapped and killed
• (3:20)• OSHA issues record breaking fines to BP - $87,430,000
in proposed penalties to BP for the company's failure to correct potential hazards faced by employees. The fine is the largest in OSHA's history. The prior largest total penalty, $21 million, was issued in 2005, also against BP.
Tragedies• 2008- Imperial Sugar, Port Wentworth GA
• Significance• Tragedies were important in getting our nation’s
attention, because death on the job as a normal everyday event
• Example: in a single Pennsylvania county, 524 workers died in one year.
Tragedies
• It took a tragedy to get attention, since death on the job was a normal every-day event.
Improvements in Workplace Safety — United States, 1900–1999, MMWR, June 11, 1999 / Vol. 48 / No. 22
Tragedies
• Why do we view occupational incidents resulting in a tragedy differently?
Social Changes and other Factors
• Accidents Cheap up until 1900s
• Able to sue employer
• Who received compensation
• Average award
Social Changes and other Factors
• Progressive Era• What was it?
• Reforms to keep up with progress (Modernization)
• “Progressive Era” of the1890s through the 1920s.• OSH reforms• Muckrakers• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=h2ppaJwQ9UM&feature=related
Social Changes and other Factors
• Organized Labor• Labor unions
• For example, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), established 1900, pushed for comprehensive safety and workers’ compensation laws