Health & Safety - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
HEALTH AND SAFETY – YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW | Health and Safety – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow | Research paper | | Teresa VanMarrum | 6/17/2012 |
Abstract
If we go back 135 years, we wouldn’t find any protection or support for workers injured while on the job. The major industries at the time were coal and asbestos mining, and many workers had no choice but to work in cold, dark and extremely dangerous conditions. Efforts were made by employers to increase efficiencies, but there was no concern on the safety of their workers. Employers would bring in new machines to increase efficiencies, but they would be bigger and far more dangerous than the ones they were replacing. Methane gas explosions in mines were a regular occurrence, killing many workers, and thousands of workers constructing the CP Rail lost their lives due to unsafe working conditions.
Since then Canada has come a long way in providing protection for the worker. Throughout the 20th century many injuries and deaths had to happen in order to spark government commissions and inquiries, which would lead to a change in the legislation in efforts to further protect the workers. Today’s concerns are centered on mental health, heart diseases and weaknesses, as we have seen declines in the agricultural, construction and manufacturing industries and we move towards a more service industry based economy. Tomorrow’s health and safety concerns will be about how to prevent these mental stresses and heart diseases and weaknesses, but also more efforts need to be made in dealing with on the job fatalities, as we haven’t seen a decrease in the statistics.
History of Health and Safety
Throughout the 1900’s many industry-specific health and safety laws were passed and compensation boards were created, but there were still flaws in the system; it provided for the injured worker, but it didn’t stop injuries, diseases and deaths from happening. By the 1960’s scoliosis and other cancers and diseases
Abstract
If we go back 135 years, we wouldn’t find any protection or support for workers injured while on the job. The major industries at the time were coal and asbestos mining, and many workers had no choice but to work in cold, dark and extremely dangerous conditions. Efforts were made by employers to increase efficiencies, but there was no concern on the safety of their workers. Employers would bring in new machines to increase efficiencies, but they would be bigger and far more dangerous than the ones they were replacing. Methane gas explosions in mines were a regular occurrence, killing many workers, and thousands of workers constructing the CP Rail lost their lives due to unsafe working conditions.
Since then Canada has come a long way in providing protection for the worker. Throughout the 20th century many injuries and deaths had to happen in order to spark government commissions and inquiries, which would lead to a change in the legislation in efforts to further protect the workers. Today’s concerns are centered on mental health, heart diseases and weaknesses, as we have seen declines in the agricultural, construction and manufacturing industries and we move towards a more service industry based economy. Tomorrow’s health and safety concerns will be about how to prevent these mental stresses and heart diseases and weaknesses, but also more efforts need to be made in dealing with on the job fatalities, as we haven’t seen a decrease in the statistics.
History of Health and Safety
Throughout the 1900’s many industry-specific health and safety laws were passed and compensation boards were created, but there were still flaws in the system; it provided for the injured worker, but it didn’t stop injuries, diseases and deaths from happening. By the 1960’s scoliosis and other cancers and diseases
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