On this day in labor history, the year was 1970.
That was the day President Richard M. Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law. At the time, it was estimated that 14,000 workers died annually on the job, 2.2 million workers were permanently or temporarily disabled and half a million developed occupational diseases each year.
The Department of Labor admitted at the time that at least 25 million serious injuries and deaths went unreported each year.
Statistics like these prompted occupational health and safety expert, Dr. Jeanne Stellman to state, “Each day millions of workers in America enter a battlefield, but they fight no foreign enemy and conquer no foreign lands. The battlefield is the American workplace and the casualties of this war are higher than those of any other in the nation’s history.”
Industrial unions surveyed thousands of members regarding health and safety conditions.
They documented deplorable working conditions, debilitating injuries, mystery diseases and early fatalities of their coworkers.
Their testimonies provided the ammunition necessary to fight for OSHA.
The Act established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, responsible for standards, regulation and enforcement.
It also established the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, responsible for research and recommendations.
The Act served as a milestone. It provided the formal, legal basis for which workers could fight to qualitatively change their lives at the workplace.
The General Duty Clause established that workplaces must be free of hazards, and allowed workers to demand inspections.
The Act also mandated medical record keeping, surprise inspections and enforcement.
Many of the standards, regulations and enforcements OSHA now has, have come as a result of intense, continuous pressure waged by the labor movement.
May 4 - UE Beats Back HUAC in Dayton
May 3 - First Workers Compensation Law is Passed
May 2 - Our Thing is DRUM!
May 1 - Mayday Marchers Attacked in Cleveland
April 30 - Refinery Workers Walk Off the Job
April 29 - Allis-Chalmers and the Road to Taft-Hartley
April 28 - OSHA Goes Into Effect
April 27 - Disaster in West Virginia
April 26 - National Guard Ousts Montgomery Ward CEO
April 25 - UAW Mobilizes Against Taft-Hartley
April 24 - The California Spinach Riot
April 23 - Sitting Down for Dignity at Ford
April 22 - The Red Jacket Mine Explosion
April 21 - The Hated Taylor Law Takes Effect
April 20 - Deepwater Horizon Explosion Kills 11
April 19 -The Daughters of Mother Jones
April 18 - We Have Fed You All A thousand Years
April 17 - Fatal Explosion in West, Texas
April 16 - Jacob Coxey is Born
April 15 - Telephone Girls Cripple New England Bell
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