OSHA Legislation

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Congress and state governments began passing legislation to protect worker safety. Slowly, U.S. laws began to hold employers more accountable for the prevention of workplace injury and death.

Here are examples of early legislation and other actions to improve worker safety in the United States:

• 1877: Massachusetts passed the first U.S. factory inspection law requiring elevator protection, an adequate number of fire exits, and safeguards for equipment like belts, shafts, and gears.
• 1893: Congress passed the first U.S. legislation to protect workers, the Safety Appliance Act of 1893. (This law applied only to workers dealing with railway equipment, not other industries.)
• 1908: The U.S. Steel Corporation created a safety committee with the goal of reducing worker accident rates.
• 1910: After several mine explosions and mine collapses (including the worst U.S. mining disaster, when 362 coal workers were killed in Monongah, West Virginia, in 1907), Congress created the United States Bureau of Mines, which advocated for worker safety.
• 1913: Hoping to improve working conditions, Congress created the U.S. Department of Labor. One stated responsibility of the Secretary of Labor is to provide reports about industrial diseases and accidents.
• March 5, 1913: Coal miner William B. Wilson becomes the first Secretary of Labor. During his service (1913-1921), Wilson worked with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to generate accident statistics for the iron and steel industries; this later expanded to other industries. Williams's goal was to "make the unhealthy occupations healthy."

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