Historical Aspects of Industrial Hygiene - Changing Attitudes Toward Occupational Health

Our plain-English summary of Historical Aspects of Industrial Hygiene - Changing Attitudes Toward Occupational Health, by J.K. Corn (1978).

The study

• Author: J.K. Corn
• Published: American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, Volume 39. September 1978
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This was a historical essay, the first in a planned series, not a study of asbestos or workers. The author outlined how American attitudes shifted in the twentieth century from seeing workplace accidents and diseases as unavoidable to seeing hazards as preventable. Among Progressive-era surveys, the essay described Crystal Eastman's accident investigation, part of the Pittsburgh Survey, which counted five hundred twenty-six men killed by work accidents in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, from July 1, 1906 to June 30, 1907. It then covered New Deal laws and agencies. Asbestos was mentioned once. The author wrote that 1968 and 1970 hearing testimony showed the link between occupational disease and workers in the asbestos, lead, coal mining, cotton textile and pesticide industries was well known, but this knowledge had not become effective preventive action. The author credited the changed view to factors including increased industrial activity, new scientific knowledge and changed social attitudes. The author concluded that the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act, placing responsibility for in-plant health and safety on the employer, appeared to culminate sixty or more years of agitation.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: historical essay (narrative history of occupational health policy), the first in a planned series of articles
• Who was studied: occupational health and safety attitudes, laws, agencies and organizations in the United States, from about 1900 to 1970
• Exposure: occupational hazards in general (accidents and diseases such as silicosis, lead poisoning, phosphorus poisoning and mercury poisoning); asbestos is mentioned only once, as one of several industries named in 1968 and 1970 hearing testimony
• Main results:
  • Crystal Eastman's accident investigation, carried out as part of the Pittsburgh Survey (not this article's own research), reported that five hundred twenty-six men were killed by work accidents in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the one-year period from July 1, 1906 to June 30, 1907
  • In Eastman's investigation, eighty-four percent of the men killed were forty years old or under
  • Before 1936 there were seven industrial hygiene divisions in six states and one city health department; by the mid-1940s there were forty-seven units in thirty-eight states, seven cities and two counties
  • According to the author, testimony at 1968 and 1970 committee hearings showed that the link between occupational disease and workers in the asbestos, lead, coal mining, cotton textile and pesticide industries was well known
  • The author wrote that although there was enough knowledge to control the work environment, it had not been translated into effective preventive action
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that increased industrial activity, pressure from progressive elements of society, new scientific and technical knowledge, more data on hazards and disease, and changed social attitudes accounted for the changed view of worker health and safety. The author also concluded that the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act, based on employer responsibility for in-plant health and safety, appeared to be the culmination of sixty or more years of agitation.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author omitted events of the 1950s and 1960s because they were similar to earlier developments

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Industrial Hygiene, Occupational Disease.

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