Few workplace health and safety protections were available through the federal government before the passage of OSHA. The American system of mass production encouraged the use of machinery, while the statutory regime did nothing to protect workplace safety. For most employers, it was cheaper to replace a dead or injured worker than it was to introduce safety measures.
Tort law provided little recourse for relief for the survivors of dead workers or for injured employees. After the
Civil War, some improvements were made through the establishment of state railroad and factory commissions, the adoption of new technology (such as the
railway air brake), and more widespread availability of
life insurance. But the overall impact of these improvements was minimal. The first federal safety legislation was enacted in the
Progressive period. In 1893, Congress passed the
Safety Appliance Act, the first federal statute to require safety equipment in the workplace (the law applied only to railroad equipment, however). Backed by
trade unions, many states also enacted
workers' compensation laws which discouraged employers from permitting unsafe workplaces. After the war ended, however, workplace accident rates remained high and began to rise. In the two years preceding OSHA's enactment, 14,000 workers died each year from workplace hazards, and another 2 million were disabled or harmed. Additionally, the "
chemical revolution" introduced a vast array of new chemical compounds to the manufacturing environment. The health effects of these chemicals were poorly understood, and workers received few protections against prolonged or high levels of exposure. While a few states, such as California and New York, had enacted workplace safety as well as workplace health legislation, most states had not changed their workplace protection laws since the turn of the century. ==Passage==