OH&S
A brief description of fairly typical workplace accidents in England in the mid 19th Century:
“Newspapers were full of reports of accidents in factories, many of them fatal. In a matter of a few summer weeks of one year the Manchester Guardian, in addition to various other serious injuries, recorded several deaths in Lancashire factories; one boy died ‘from lockjaw after his hand had been crushed by the wheels of a machine’; three days later another ‘youth died of dreadful injuries after being caught in a machine’; soon afterwards an ‘Oldham girl died after being swung around 50 times in machinery belting, every bone in her body being broken’; three days after this ‘in Manchester a girl fell into a blower [a machine used in preparing raw cotton] and died as a result of serious injuries’. (Frederick Engles, German born author of “The Conditions of the Working Class in England”, p186; quoted in Hibbert, “THE ENGLISH: A Social History 1060-1945”, Paladin, 1987, p151)”.
“Newspapers were full of reports of accidents in factories, many of them fatal. In a matter of a few summer weeks of one year the Manchester Guardian, in addition to various other serious injuries, recorded several deaths in Lancashire factories; one boy died ‘from lockjaw after his hand had been crushed by the wheels of a machine’; three days later another ‘youth died of dreadful injuries after being caught in a machine’; soon afterwards an ‘Oldham girl died after being swung around 50 times in machinery belting, every bone in her body being broken’; three days after this ‘in Manchester a girl fell into a blower [a machine used in preparing raw cotton] and died as a result of serious injuries’. (Frederick Engles, German born author of “The Conditions of the Working Class in England”, p186; quoted in Hibbert, “THE ENGLISH: A Social History 1060-1945”, Paladin, 1987, p151)”.
Things have changed vastly – and fortunately – as a result of significant social legislation and regulation in the space of a mere 150 years. Our OHS section provides an overview of the position in South Australia.
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For advice on Occupational Health & Safety please contact Ralph Bőnig Email: rbonig@fountainbonig.com.au Direct phone: 8110 9702 or David Rostron Email: drostron@fountainbonig.com.au Direct phone: 8110 9703 |
