Development of the Safety Movement

The Oldest History of Labour Laws:

This shows that in ancient India, the class of laborers, artisans, and artists was duly respected by the society and the problems of their livelihood, health and safety were also considered as mentioned in old literature and in Kautilya’s Arthshashtra.

Legal history dates back to the 14th century in England. It is mentioned that the initial enactments by the English Parliament were in the interest of employers and not in the interest of employees.

The statute of Labourers of 1349 and 1350 made labor compulsory, confined laborers to their existing places of residence, and fixed maximum rates of wages. Some of these restrictions were later on relaxed and others extended by the Apprenticeship Act of 1562. This statute was not finally repeated until 1875.

Due to the change in political power and industrial development in England as well as in the USA, laws were passed in the interest of workers from the 19th century. Much of this legislation was aimed to promote the safety and health of the workers.

As early as 1898, the US supreme court upheld a Utah Statute prohibiting women’s employment in mines for more than 8 hours a day.

Initially, the need for legislation was justified by the courts for children and women and not for adult men. Following old citations clarify this.

1.      Labour legislation may be enacted which applies to children and not to adults. Regulation of hours of labor may be made for women and not for men'[Muller v/s Oregon, 208 US 412 (1908)].

2.      Regulation of hours of labor may be made to apply to especially unhealthful occupations and not to others’ [Holden v/s Hardy, 169 US 366 (1898)].

An Oregon statute of 1903 limited to 10 hours a day the labor of women in factories, laundries, and mechanical establishments. The US court upheld this law in 1908, constitutional justifying the injurious effects of long hours of labor upon the health of women. In 1915, the same court also upheld the more drastic California statute limiting the labor of women in certain industries to 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week as a reasonable exercise of law [Miller v/s. Wilson, 236 US 373 (1915)]

Child labor laws were adopted and justified in almost all countries. The state was considered to be a guardian and its parental rights were upheld by the courts to fix the age-limit below which children shall not be employed, to regulate their working hours and to prohibit their employment in dangerous occupations.