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140 Years of Occupational Safety and Health Reporting

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Thanks to BLS employees Melissa Pollock, Jenette Yossef, and Audrey Watson for their research into historic BLS documents, which form the basis for this blog.

Celebrating 140 years since our founding, we asked BLS staff to look back at some of the material in the BLS archive. Are there topics that we no longer cover? What are the similarities between the economic statistics of yesteryear and those we produce today? Are there intriguing stories of our past to share?

Staff enjoyed this exercise and identified some interesting, and long-forgotten stories. A few themes emerged from these stories, including BLS tracking workplace safety issues for well over a century. Here we look at just a few of those stories.

Call in 1908 to study and improve working conditions to prevent industrial accidents and diseases (From Pollock)

In “Industrial Hygiene”, George M. Kober, M.D. makes the case for the United States to study, monitor, and prevent industrial accidents and diseases, highlighting how exposure to dust, toxic substances, and unsanitary environments lead to serious health issues. The paper details various occupational hazards for workers in industries like mining and textiles, advocates for regular medical examinations to detect early signs of occupational disease, and stresses the importance of educating both workers and employers on hygienic practices to enhance health and safety standards. Kober also calls for laws to enforce hygienic conditions and urges government intervention to establish protective guidelines.

Worker deaths in the early 20th century due to industrial dust and dusty trades (From Yossef)

One of the leading causes of death for American workers at the turn of the century was consumption, known today as tuberculosis. In “The Mortality from Consumption in Dusty Trades”, Frederick L. Hoffman writes that, “[a]t ages 25 to 34, out of every 100 deaths from all causes in the registration area of the United States during the seven years ending 1906, 31.3 deaths were from consumption.” Consumption referred to multiple symptoms but ultimately was due to foreign and toxic particles entering the lungs. Hoffman describes jobs with high exposure to hazardous dust, including polishers, jewelers, printers, stoneworkers, glass blowers, cotton manufacturers, cabinetmakers, and hatters.

Consumption was not a disease that effects the worker immediately, but slowly over many years. This made it difficult for workers to connect the symptoms of their illness with the job they may have been doing for most of their life.

In 1908 and 1909, extreme hazards existed such as exposure to phosphorus in match factories (From Watson)

Phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, or “phossy jaw,” was an occupational hazard among workers in match factories. Severe cases could lead to the removal of one or both jaws, and sometimes death. In 1908 and 1909, Bureau agents investigated 15 of the 16 known U.S. match factories. These factories employed 2,024 men and 1,253 women 16 and over and 121 boys and 193 girls under 16. Because of occupational differences, 95 percent of female employees and 82 percent of workers under 16 were exposed to phosphorus fumes, compared with 44 percent of male employees.

Want to know more about BLS occupational safety and health statistics? Here are some resources that look at past—and present—data: