By 
Throughout history, the health and safety movement has been affected by legislation. In the following safety and health timeline, notable events, individuals, and legislative actions are set forth to illustrate the theme that the safety professional / practitioner is and has been an important part of those preventative experiences that make up the life story.
The ancient Chinese (c. 2500 BC) distributed the risk of loss by placing 1/6 of their harvest in each of the six ships that traveled to market.
Hammurabi (c. 2000 BC), ruler of Babylon, was responsible for the Code of Hammurabi, part of which resembles today’s workers’ compensation laws.
The ancient Egyptians (as early as 1600 BC) recognized the dangers of breathing the fumes produced by the fusion of silver and gold.
Hippocrates (c. 460-c. 377 BC), the father of contemporary medicine, established a link between the respiratory problems of the Greek stonemasons and the rock dust that surrounded them.
In ancient Rome, the few slaves who survived the dangerous task of launching ships were given their freedom.
In 1601, the first English law on “guarantee” (an earlier term for insurance) was enacted. This statute covered marine risks.
In 1667, the Great Fire of London (2-7 September 4666) promulgated the first English fire insurance laws.
In 1700, Bernardino Ramazzini, an Italian physician, published the first thesis that attempted to prove the connections between occupation and disease.
In 1730, Benjamin Franklin organized the first firefighting company in the United States and also detected symptoms of lead poisoning with Dr. Evans.
In 1775, English doctors discovered that chimney sweeps, who were exposed to coal tar residues in their daily work, had a higher incidence of cancer than the general population.
In 1792, the first charter to underwrite marine and fire insurance was issued in the United States.
In 1812, the War Embargo of 1812 stimulated the development of the New England textile industry and the founding of mutual factory enterprises. These early insurance companies inspected properties for hazards and suggested loss prevention and control methods to ensure low rates for their policyholders.
In 1864, the Pennsylvania Mine Safety Act (PMSA) became law.
In 1864, North America’s first accident insurance policy was issued.
In 1867, the state of Massachusetts instituted the first government-sponsored factory inspection program.
In 1877, the state of Massachusetts passed a law requiring the protection of dangerous machinery and assumed the authority to enforce factory inspection programs.
In 1878, the first recorded call from a labor organization to the federal occupational safety and health law is heard.
In 1896, an association for fire prevention and writing codes and standards, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), was founded.
In 1902, the state of Maryland passed the first workers’ compensation law.
In 1904, the first attempt by a state government to force employers to compensate their employees for injuries on the job was overturned when the Supreme Court declared Maryland’s workers’ compensation law unconstitutional.
On March 21, 1911, at the Asch Building in New York City, nearly 150 women and girls died in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire due to closed emergency exits and inadequate fire suppression systems. A major turning point in history, this fire changed government regulation and laws instituted to protect workers.
In 1911, a professional and technical organization responsible for developing safety codes for boilers and elevators, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), was founded. Security Code A17 was published.
1911-1915, during this five-year period, 30 states passed workers’ compensation laws.
On October 14, 1911, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) was founded in New York City. Originally called the United Society of Accident Inspectors. ASSE was dedicated to the development of accident prevention techniques and the advancement of safety engineering as a profession.
The California Railroad Commission, now known as the California Public Utilities Commission, was created by a constitutional amendment to oversee rail safety, including the safety of highway / rail crossings.
In 1912, a group of engineers representing insurance companies, industry, and government met in Milwaukee to exchange accident prevention data. The organization formed at this meeting would become the National Security Council (NSC). (Today, the NSC conducts major safety campaigns for the general public, as well as assists industry in developing safety promotion programs.)
In 1916, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of state workers’ compensation laws.
In 1918, the American Standards Association was founded. Responsible for the development of many voluntary safety standards, some of which are referenced in law, today it is now called the American National Standards Institute. [ANSI].
In 1931 the Uniform Traffic Code was established due to the increased speed and volume of traffic and motor vehicle accidents. The code consists of four separate acts: motor vehicle registration, driver’s license, car theft, and uniform traffic regulations.
In 1936, Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, called for a federal workplace safety and health law. This action came 58 years after the unions’ first registered request for a law of this nature.
In 1936, the Walsh-Healey (Public Contracts) Act was passed. This law required that all federal contracts be performed in a healthy and safe work environment.
By 1948, all states (48 at the time) now had workers’ compensation laws.
In 1952, the Coal Mine Safety Act (CMSA) was enacted.
In 1960, specific safety regulations were enacted for the Walsh-Healey Act.
On January 3, 1961, an experimental nuclear reactor accident at a federal facility near Idaho Falls, ID kills three workers. These were the first fatalities in nuclear reactor operations in the United States.
In 1966, the Non-Metallic and Metal Mine Safety Act (MNMSA) was passed.
In 1966, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and its sections, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were established.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson called for a federal workplace safety and health law.
In 1969, the Construction Safety Act (CSA) was passed.
In 1969, the Board of Certified Security Professionals (BCSP) was established. This organization certifies security professionals.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), thus creating the administration of OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
In 1970, on January 1, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed. This provided a national charter to protect and improve the environment and created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
On May 29, 1971, the first OSHA standards were adopted to provide a baseline for safety and health protection in American workplaces.
In 1972, the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) was enacted.
In 1976, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) was passed and became the instrument by which the management of hazardous waste is regulated.
In 1980, to address hazardous waste management issues, the Pollution Liability Insurance Association (PLIA) was formed.
January 16, 1981 OSHA updates commercial electrical standards to simplify compliance and take a performance approach.
1991 North Carolina plant fire kills 25 workers and 49 injured at Imperial Chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. Employees were trapped inside due to padlocked doors designed to keep vandals out.
On September 11, 2001, 2,886 work-related deaths, including 537 rescue workers, resulted from terrorist attacks on the New York City World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and crashed planes.