health and safety
The period 1945-1995 saw major developments in health and safety policy including:
- Extension of health and safety legislation
- Deregulation agenda of the 1979-1997 Conservative Government
- Establishment of workplace safety representatives and safety committees
- European Union becomes the main source of new regulation
Resources available on this site related to health and safety:
-Read a learning narrative on health and safety, a paper written by Dave Lyddon, Centre for Industrial Relations, Keele University.
-View images relating to health and safety.
-Search the collection for resources relating to "health and safety").
Examples of interview resources:
The explosion at a chemical plant near Flixborough, Lincolnshire on June 1, 1974 killed 28 people and injured 36. In addition, 53 off-site injuries were reported, along with damage to private property. It is recognised that the number of casualties would have been more if the incident had occurred on a weekday, as the main office block was not occupied. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, setting up the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive received the Royal Assent the following month. The Flixborough explosion greatly increased public concern over industrial plant safety and led to the creation of the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations 1984.
I was just coming towards the end of my apprenticeship... because conditions were pretty horrendous there. There was no safety equipment on the machines. I mean, if you had all your fingers and thumbs you was really unusual, and I mean that, really unusual. Ear defenders, they weren't even heard of, overalls, well, just weren't heard of. Machinery covered in snow because they were all outside, so when there was snow all you done was got a wheelbarrow or oil drum, filled that with scraps of wood, melted the snow and ice on it, and carried on until it shorted-out the electrics.
Allan Tyrrell describing his apprenticeship as a wood machinist in 1958.
Read and hear more.
There were accidents. But when you consider the environment that they were in, there could have been some quite catastrophic accidents... You wouldn’t necessarily know how a razor blade is made, but it’s a thin strip of steel, that’s being whipped through a machine with grinding wheels there. And that’s going at probably ... well, certainly twelve hundred if not more, blades a minute. So it’s doing a hell of a speed. Obviously, if you were to touch it on top, it would really make a mess of you. But the machinery was guarded and I always said that the best guard that you’ve ever got is common sense. If you see a fly-wheel going ‘round, you know if you put your fingers in there it’s going to hurt. So you shouldn’t need to guard that. You need to guard it in case someone falls. Passes out or falls. But to stop people from putting their hands in, you’ve got to have common sense. You don’t try and injure yourself.
Anonymous interviewee. Read and hear more.
