Dangerous Trades : History of Health and Safety at Work - 2 volumes

The workplaces of the early Industrial Revolution were often highly dangerous.

By the late 19th century, a number of campaigns to clean up workplaces and make them safer for workers were underway.

One leading campaigner was the British physician Dr Thomas Oliver, who was familiar at first hand with a wide range of industrial illnesses and accidents from his medical practice in the industrial districts of Britain's north-east.

In "Dangerous Trades", Oliver set out to compile all the available knowledge about the kinds of industrial health and safety issues that existed in every workplace, and suggest remedies for these problems.

A team of 38 contributors (including six women), many of them noted medical practitioners, contributed more than 900 pages of material to "Dangerous Trades": the first complete survey of industrial health and safety.

As well as discussing the problems of the workplace itself, Oliver and his contributors compiled a mass of useful economic information concerning wages, standards of living and general health issues, all of major importance in the reform of workplace law and working conditions in the early 20th century.