In your day safety on the work was not enforced or regulated as it is today. Coal miners as an example were sent into mines without safety devices to protect them from the hazards of mining like cave-ins and Black Lung disease. The death rate for coal miners was high and took many members'lives often from the exact same family. Coal mining was a tradition to many families whereby the son/sons and their descendants followed the footpaths of the ancestors. Exactly the same will also apply to textile workers and the development of Brown Lung disease caused from weaving and processing cotton in these mills.

Today things are very different as a result of rules and regulations established by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA is definitely an agency of the United State Department of Labor. OSHA was founded by the U.S. Congress underneath the Occupational Safety and Health Act, enacted after the signing by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970. Its'mission is to avoid work-related injuries, illnesses and occupational fatality by issuing and enforcing rules called standards for workplace safety and health.

Initially there is a lot of widely spread criticism of the OSHA rules and regulations. Mostly in the first years as a result of confusion and the burden implementing these regulations. A few of the opposition came about because of the inconsistent enforcement during OSHA's initial years. In addition, at considerable expense businesses were expected to modify or re-design guards and other safety devices on existing equipment and to inject other hazard controls into their safety standards. There have been other expectations to implement such as for example mandated training, communication, and heavy documentation of safety measures that were viewed as difficult and expensive. However, with time manufacturers of industrial equipment have included OSHA safety features on subsequent machinery.

"The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), founded October 14, 1911, could be the oldest and largest professional safety organization. Its more than 32,000 members manage, supervise and consult on occupational safety and health and environmental issues in industry, insurance, government and education."

The creation of the ASSE was created in a reaction to the March 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed 148 garment workers in New York who couldn't safely escape the building, or died from jumping from the windows.

Currently, ASSE has 16 practice specialties, or groups that focus on a specific industry or field of safety. There are lots of practice specialties included including the field of construction. The ASSE serves whilst the secretariat for various consensus standards offering fall protection and all around construction safety practices.

Residential, site commercial and industrial construction can be quite dangerous and was in great need of safety rules and guidelines. Samples of a few of the safety precautions in construction will be the requirement for each worker on the job site to wear a difficult hat at all times.