Journal Article

“Educate the Individual . . . to a Sane Appreciation of the Risk”A History of Industry’s Responsibility to Warn of Job Dangers Before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Markowitz, Gerald, Rosner, David

2016

Overview

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Workers Right to Know laws later in that decade were signature moments in the history of occupational safety and health. We have examined how and why industry leaders came to accept that it was the obligation of business to provide information about the dangers to health of the materials that workers encountered. Informing workers about the hazards of the job had plagued labor–management relations and fed labor disputes, strikes, and even pitched battles during the turn of the century decades. Industry’s rhetorical embrace of the responsibility to inform was part of its argument that government regulation of the workplace was not necessary because private corporations were doing it.

• Publisher: American Public Health Association
• Subject: Access to Information - history / Access to Information - legislation & jurisprudence / AJPH History / Collective Bargaining - history / Collective Bargaining - legislation & jurisprudence / Hazardous Substances - adverse effects / Hazardous Substances - history / History, 19th Century / History, 20th Century / Humans / Labor Unions - history / Labor Unions - legislation & jurisprudence / Occupational Exposure - adverse effects / Occupational Exposure - history / Occupational Exposure - legislation & jurisprudence / Occupational Health - history / Occupational Health - legislation & jurisprudence / United States / United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration - history / United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration - legislation & jurisprudence