In history there was a “time of ignorance and superstition”. Industry never existed and so was industrial safety. Accidents were considered natural – inevitable and at par with diseases.
It took the industrial revolution to create the conditions which lead to the development of accident prevention as a specialized field.
Safety movement has demonstrated that its techniques are effective in reducing accident rate. On the other hand the techniques also prove that it can only reduce accident rate not totally eliminate accidents, and resulting injuries and destruction.
Accidents will continue to happen, but why?
This presentation is searching for an acceptable answer.
2. • For any living organism
safety awareness is inborn.
• In the beginning man had to
face hazards only from the
nature.
• Livelihood of Hunting and
agriculture had limited
hazards.
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3. Probably animal instincts would have
been the safety factor.
Perhaps with the then existing
knowledge one could take precautions
and save himself from possible harm.
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5. • No one knows much about safety practice
of medieval days.
• Whatever is told around is of someone’s
imagination.
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6. Medieval period is frequently caricatured
as a “time of ignorance and superstition”.
On those days safety issues never existed;
it is believed.
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7. Later in the age of Discovery
• Master craftsman had to take utmost care
to ensure safety of his apprentices and
journeymen.
• Reason being they were his kith and kin.
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8. It is reported that in Britain mills existed in
the 16th Century.
Safety was not a subject to any
regulation.
Accidents different ones from those of
hunting and agriculture began to happen.
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9. New inventions helped mechanization.
The Chief Inspector’s report for 1936
quoted a report found concerning a fatal
accident to a child in 1540:
Her body was torn into pieces in a
machine wheel.
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11. Industrial growth depended on good
transportation systems to bring raw materials to
factories and to distribute finished goods.
Thus they started building canals between
mines and factories, then a road surface, and
finally the rail road industry was developed.RKPILLAI -CRITERION
12. • More and more inventions, expansions, advance
in science and technology, and new methods of
production followed.
• Cities were growing overnight.
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13. New inventions helped mechanization.
In 1760 James Watt developed a steam engine
which revolutionized transportation.
Britain lead the industrial revolution.
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14. Market places developed in to industrial cities.
Though houses were poorly built having no sanitation
systems, and drinking water, thousands of people
moved into these cities quickly.
All this contributed to the spread of various diseases
too.
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15. There were no laws to ensure safety.
People started losing person to person contact
which they enjoyed before as farmers.
They were forced to live in slums.
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16. Factory conditions were worse with fumes, loud
monotonous noise of machines, and poor lighting.
There was no safety devices provided on machines
even for emergencies.
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17. No one bothered to discuss about safety of
workers because:
They were poor.
They were children of just 5 years or more.
They were women.
Their plight was worse than Charles Dickens’
Oliver Twist. RKPILLAI -CRITERION
18. Working in the factories of the
Industrial Revolution was hazardous.
The factory workers faced:
1. safety hazards,
2. health hazards, and
3. cruel treatment.
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19. A hazard is any object, situation, or behavior that
has the potential to cause injury, ill health, or
damage to property or the environment.
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21. If you were a child from a poor
family at the beginning of the
Victorian times, you worked and
worked and worked .......
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22. • 12 to 16 hours of work.
• One day off on Sundays to go to church.
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23. What was wrong with the working conditions for children
during the Victorian times?
Children worked very long hours with little
breaks and no fresh air.
They often worked in very dangerous conditions
resulting in injuries or even death.
Very young children were expected to work.
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24. There was no education for the poor, so it was
very unlikely they could get better paid jobs
when they were older.
Children were paid very little because they were
younger.
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25. Chimney Sweeps
Chimney sweeping was a job children could do
better than adults.
Small boys (starting at the age of 5 or 6 years)
would be sent scrambling up inside the chimney
to scrape and brush soot away.
They came down covered in soot, and with
bleeding elbows and knees.
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26. The chimneys were usually very narrow (in some
cases as small as 30cm) and twisted.
Children often got stuck or froze with terror in
the cramped darkness - in these cases the
Master Chimney Sweeper, would simply light
the fire underneath to 'encourage' them to get
on with their work.
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27. The work was dangerous and
painful. Some boys got stuck
and died of suffocation.
"I never got stuck myself but
some of my friends have and
were taken out dead."
boy aged 8
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28. "I start work promptly at
5:00 in the morning and
work all day till 9:00 at
night. That’s 16 hours! We
are not allowed to talk, sit
or look out of the window
whilst we work. The only
day off from work I get is
on Sundays, when we
have to go to church."
Girl aged 9
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34. 1844 –Manchester there were so many cripples, that the
inhabitants looked like an army just returned from a campaign
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35. Why were children employed to
work in factories?
• Children were much cheaper than adults as a
factory owner did not have to pay them as
much.
• There were plenty of children in orphanages, so
they could be replaced easily if accidents did
occur.
• Children were small enough to crawl under
machinery to tie up broken threads.
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36. Drawers
Drawers pulled heavy carts of cut coal to the pits
surface with heavy chains around their waists.
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37. Trappers
"I sit in the dark down in the pit for 12 hours a day. I only see
daylight on Sundays when I don't work down the pit. Once I fell
asleep and a wagon ran over my leg"
Boy aged 7
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38. Below is a small sample of how children were
killed working in coal mines
(information from www.dmm.org.uk)
A trapper, only 10 years old killed in an explosion.
A horse driver aged 11. Crushed by horse.
A driver, aged 14 fell off limmers and was crushed
between the tubs and a door.
A token keeper aged 14 Crushed by surface
wagons on branches.
A screenboy aged 12 Crushed by surface wagons.
A trapper aged 12 Crushed by tubs.
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39. A driver aged 12 - Horse fell on him.
A bank boy aged 11 - Caught by cage.
A driver aged 12- Head crushed between tub top
and a plank while riding on limmers.
A trapper aged 13 - Head crushed between cage
and bunton while riding to bank.
Tub Cleaner, aged 13 - Fell down the shaft off a
pumping engine.
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40. Boy aged 14 - drowned.
Boy, aged 7- Killed in an explosion.
Trapper , aged 9 - Killed in an explosion.
Driver, aged 14 - Crushed against wall by a
horse.
Screen Boy, aged 15 - Head crushed between a
tub and screen legs ; too little room.
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41. Factories that sprang
up after the Civil
War, chemicals,
dusts, dangerous
machines, and a
confusing jumble of
belts, pulleys, and
gears confronted
inexperienced, often
very young workers.
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42. Britain lead the industrial revolution.
As a result they used their capital to invest in
textiles, mines, railroads, and shipbuilding.
Many inventions, expansions, advances in science
and technology, revolution in transportation, and
new methods of production geared the revolution.
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43. And when you ask who were the people who
worked for the factories?
Writers answer you:
men, women and children
aging 5 and above.
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44. Accidents Were "Cheap"
While workers injured on the job or their heirs might
sue employers for damages, winning proved
difficult. Where employers could show that the
worker had assumed the risk, or had been injured
by the actions of a fellow employee, or had himself
been partly at fault, courts would usually deny
liability.
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45. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Common Law favored the owners and managers
and there was no compensation for occupational
injuries or illness.
• Fellow Servant Rule
• Contributory Negligence
• Assumption of Risk
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46. THE COMMON LAW
The employee contributed to the cause of the
accident.
Another employee contributed to the cause of the
accident.
The employee knew of the hazard involved in the
accident before the injury was sustained and still
agreed to work in the condition of pay.
There was no employer negligence.
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47. Here you shall witness in the years to come the
rise of the labor union to get more gains for
workers in wages or productivity in a safer and
healthier environment.
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48. Governments now realized the demands of
workers are justifiable .
Result : First Workmen’s Compensation Act
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49. Legislation has become gradually more rigorous.
Legislation forced employers to pay for on the job
injuries.
Wiser employers found profitable to prevent
accidents than paying compensation.
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50. The Factory and Workshop Act 1878 extended earlier
codes to cover all trades.
The minimum working age was raised to 10 years.
Significant amendments to the Factories Act in 1937
and 1961 brought things closer to modern-day
standards.
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51. Health & Safety at Work Act in 1974 made a
leap forward with a change to goal-based
regulations supported by guidance and
codes of practice.
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52. Employers Become Interested in Safety
The sharp rise in accident costs that resulted from
compensation laws and tighter employers' liability initiated
the modern concern with work safety and initiated the long-
term decline in work accidents and injuries.
Large firms in railroading, mining, manufacturing and
elsewhere suddenly became interested in safety.
Companies began to guard machines and power
sources while machinery makers developed safer
designs.
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53. No industrial system existed in US before 19th
century.
Families usually lived and worked in farms.
After 1800 effects of industrial revolution were felt in
United states too.
Factory work started.
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54. Because accidents were so cheap, American industrial
methods developed with little reference to their safety.
US factories were far superior in terms of production to the
preceding small handcraft shops and inferior in terms of
human values, health, and safety.
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55. In large industrial centers the ugly results of
industrial accidents and poor health conditions
became more and more obvious.
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56. Voices of protests were raised.
From 1898 on, there were various efforts to make the
employers liable for accidents.
In 1908 first workmen’s compensation act was
passed in New York.
Supreme Court declared this unconstitutional.
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57. Later in 1911 when Wisconsin passed the
workmen’s compensation act US Supreme
Court declared it constitutional.
Regardless of fault of persons management
would pay compensation for work injury.
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58. Legislation has become gradually more rigorous.
Legislation forced employers to pay for on the job
injuries.
Wiser employers found profitable to prevent
accidents than paying compensation.
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59. Managers began to look for hidden dangers at work,
and to require that workers wear hard hats and safety
glasses.
They also set up safety departments run by engineers
and safety committees that included both workers and
managers.
In the first decade of 20th century, two great industries,
rail roads and steel the large-scale organized safety
programs.
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60. In 1913 companies founded the National Safety
Council to pool information.
Government agencies such as the Bureau of
Mines and National Bureau of Standards provided
scientific support while universities also
researched safety problems for firms and
industries.
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61. PEOPLE REALIZED …
The employer owes more than just the wages to his
workers.
It is his duty to take care of their morale and
physical conditions, and this purely moral obligation
which can not be replaced by any kind of wages,
should take precedence over consideration of
private interest.
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63. IN INDUSTRY THERE IS NO HUMANITARIAN
CONSIDERATIONS
THEN
WHY SAFETY ?
ANSWER -
“FOR STATUTES”
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64. WHY STATUTES ?
Workers had no protection.
Hating industry - Mad hatter.
A large number of workers working in unsafe
environments.
Workplace injuries and illnesses increasing.
Its impact was felt in the society.
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65. • Government realized need for worker protection.
• Employers fought regulations.
• Injury and fatality statistics prompted Government
to act.
*State programs were not consistent.
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66. Industrial law was developed along four
main lines :
• Reporting
• Prohibition
• Regulation
• Compensation/Insurance
FACTORIES ACT - OSHA
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67. All four are interrelated and depends up on each
other for success.
Reporting of accidents and ill health are purposeless
unless it leads to prohibition or regulation of sources
of accidents and dangers and is incomplete if not
made a part of proper system of compensation
administration.
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68. Efforts for prohibition and regulation groups in the
dark without the light of experience made
available through reporting of accidents and is
apt to be feeble unless stimulated by cooperative
financial pressure exerted by compensation.
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69. Over a period statutes on safety are made
stringent though accidents continue to happen.
But why ..?
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70. Industries developed some experience in safety.
• It discovered that engineering could
prevent accidents.
• Employees could be reached through
education.
• Safety rules could be established and
enforced.
Thus the three ‘E’s of safety – Engineering,
Education, and Enforcement were developed.
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71. FATHER OF MODERN SAFETY
H.W.HEINRICH PUBLISHED
“INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT PREVENTION” – 1931.
POSTULATED THE CONCEPT THAT THE ACTIONS OF
PEOPLE CAUSED FAR MORE ACCIDENTS THAN
HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS.
ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT IS ONLY THE TIP OF
THE ICE BERG.
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72. We could…
develop new safety techniques …
pass stringent statutes…
adopt new safety theories …
improve physical conditions.
reduce manual labor...
adopt automation ...
employ every imaginable measures…and
still……..
accidents continue to happen … why ?
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73. With all those conceivable safety measures there is
no way to completely eliminate accidents.
“No Two Men Are Alike Within”.
Their environment will differ ….
Their actions will differ too…
They will continue to cause accidents !
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74. Nature is not totally predictable…
Man has no absolute control over nature yet…
Nature will continue to play havoc …
Natural calamities cannot be totally eliminated …
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75. All men are not gentlemen…
Society cannot totally eliminate criminals…
Criminal offences cannot be totally eliminated…
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76. We are improving….
We are now capable of predicting natural
calamities and take possible precautions to save
men and materials to certain extent.
We are now capable of policing over criminal
activities and protect citizens to certain extent.
We are now capable of safeguarding against
accidents and save men and materials to certain
extent.
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77. CONCLUSION
If we ever become capable of stopping
natural calamities and criminal offences, only
then we will be able to stop all accidents too.
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