Conditions of Work and the Decline of Mortality

Abstract

Abstract It now seems evident that conditions in the workplace, whether factory, farm, workshop, mine, commercial establishment, or elsewhere, influence health and, by extension, mortality. We are aware of numerous conditions related to workplace hazards, such as ‘brown lung’ disease among textile workers, asbestosis, ‘black lung’ disease among coal miners, other lung conditions among coal and hard-rock miners and workers in dusty environments, lead and other metal and chemical poisoning, and a variety of cancers. And, of course, there is the ever-present danger of debilitating or fatal accidents, as well as the many physical conditions resulting from particular aspects of repetitive arduous tasks. Indeed, we now have an entire speciality, which evolved early in the twentieth century, known as industrial medicine. But it is not always easy to identify such phenomena historically.