Progress? in Health & Safety
By George Robotham
I had to give a talk about health and safety to a different group of people than I normally talk to, so I decided to try something different. My research led me to early causes of health & safety problems and early health & safety legislation.
The causes of The Black Death, otherwise referred to as the plague, that decimated England were said to be-
Excessive masturbation (I do not know how they figured out how much was too much)
Conjunction of the planets
Wrath of God
Evil spirits
Plague Regulation, Rouen, France, 1507
Do not gamble, fornicate or curse
Avoid other sinful excesses that are likely to arouse the anger of God
Early British health & safety legislation was focused on the employment of young people in factories and mills during the Industrial Revolution.
British Health & Morals of Apprentices Act, 1802
No night work
Not over 12 hours of work
Separate sex sleeping accommodation (Apparently not all the accidents were industrial)
Religious instruction provided
Toilets provided
Clothes to be provided
U.K. Factories Act, 1844
No children under 8 employed
Meals not in the workplace
Dangerous machines fenced
Alternate days of school and work
Hours by a public clock (Apparently some factory owners set their clocks to run slow so they could get extra hours out of the workers)
Workers 8-13 not to work more than 6.5 hours a day
The cynic in me says current health and safety legislation has not moved on sufficiently from the times of our forefathers.
George can be contacted on fgrobotham@gmail.com, he welcomes debate on the above (it would be indeed a boring world if everybody agreed with George)
George Robotham, Cert. IV T.A.E.,. Dip. Training & Assessment Systems, Diploma in Frontline Management, Bachelor of Education (Adult & Workplace Education), (Queensland University of Technology), Graduate Certificate in Management of Organisational Change, (Charles Sturt University), Graduate Diploma of Occupational Hazard Management), (Ballarat University), Accredited Workplace Health & Safety Officer (Queensland),Justice of the Peace (Queensland), Australian Defence Medal, Brisbane, Australia, fgrobotham@gmail.com, www.ohschange.com.au,07-38021516, 0421860574, My passion is the reduction of permanently life altering (Class 1 ) personal damage
