1864 – North America’s first accident insurance policy is issued.
1869 – The Pennsylvania Mine Safety Act passes into law.
1877 – The state of Massachusetts institutes the first government-sponsored factory inspection program.
1888 – Betty Moulder of Pennsylvania works with coal miners.
1902 – The state of Maryland passes the first workers’ compensation law.
1911 – First U.S. worker’s compensation laws are enacted.
1912 – National Organization for Public Health Nursing is formed.
1913 – Industrial nurses registry is established in Boston.
1913 – The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes data that show a rate of 61 industrial deaths per 100,000 workers.
1914 – The U.S. Public Health Service establishes the Office of Industrial Hygiene and Sanitation. Its primary function is research in occupational health. After several name changes it became the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 1971.
1916 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of state workers’ compensation laws.
1916 – The American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons is formed. It later became the American Occupational Medicine Association, then the American College of Occupational Medicine, and finally, in 1991, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
1917 – First industrial nursing course is offered at Boston University College of Business Administration.
1918 – The American Standards Association is founded. Responsible for the development of many voluntary safety standards, some of which are referenced into laws, today it is known as the American National Standards Institute.
1919 – Alice Hamilton, M.D., is appointed assistant professor of industrial medicine at Harvard Medical School, the first woman to be on the faculty of Harvard University.
1919 – First book on industrial nursing is written by Florence Wright.
1935 – Social Security Act of 1935 is passed. This act provided funds for state industrial programs.
1937 – Godfrey publishes one of the first statements on the need for public health involvement in accident prevention in the American Journal of Public Health.
1937 – The Council on Industrial Health of the American Medical Association is created.
1937 – An estimated 2,200 nurses are working in the industry.
1938 – American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists is formed.
1939 – American Industrial Hygiene Association is formed.
1942 – DeHaven describes structural environments as a primary cause of injury in falls from heights.
1942 – American Association of Industrial Nurses is founded with Catherine Dempsey as the first President.
1943 – Army directives are created for the establishment of industrial medical programs in all Army-owned and operated plants, arsenals, depots, and ports of embarkation.
1943 – American Public Health Association Committee on Administrative Practice appoints a subcommittee on accident prevention; the subcommittee reports accident prevention programs in six state and two local health departments.
1946 – The American Academy of Occupational Medicine is founded. Its membership comprises full-time physicians in occupational medicine. It merges with the American Occupational Medicine Association in 1988 to form the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
1948 – All states (48 at the time) have workers’ compensation laws.
1952 – The Coal Mine Safety Act passes into law.
1953 – Human Factors in Air Transportation is published by McFarland. Industrial Nursing Journal begun; it later became the Occupational Health Nursing Journal and then AAOHN Journal.
1955 – First annual Stapp conferences on the biomechanics of crashes are held.
1955 – American Board on Preventive Medicine recognizes occupational medicine as a subspecialty, with its own certification requirements.
1956 – Accident Prevention Program is initiated by the U.S. Public Health Service.
1959 – Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is founded.
1960 – Specific safety standards are promulgated for the Walsh-Healey Act.
1961 – American Public Health Association publishes Accident Prevention: The Role of Physician and Public Health Workers.
1964 – Journal of Safety Research begins publication.
1964 – Haddon, Suchman, and Klein publish Accident Research: Methods and Approaches.
1964 – The four major U.S. auto manufacturers install front-seat lap belts as standard equipment.
1968 – President Lyndon Johnson calls for a federal occupational safety and health law.
1969 – Mine Safety and Health Act becomes law.
1969 – The Construction Safety Act is passed into law.
1969 – Graduate programs in occupational health nursing begin.
1970 – Occupational Safety and Health Act is passed into law.
1970 – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are established.
1972 – Black Lung Benefits Act is enacted.
1972 – Accreditation Board for Occupational Health Nursing is established.
1974 – The Industrial Medical Association becomes the American Occupational Medicine Association.
1977 – Mine Safety and Health Administration is established to administer the provisions of the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.
1977 – American Association of Industrial Nurses is renamed as American Association of Occupational Health Nurses.
1988 – The American Academy of Occupational Medicine and the American Occupational Medical Association merge to become the American College of Occupational Medicine.
1988 – Occupational Safety and Health Administration hires its first occupational health nurse.
1988 – Role of the Primary Care Physician in Occupational and Environmental Medicine published by the Institute of Medicine.
1991 – Disability in America: Toward a National Agenda for Prevention is published by the Institute of Medicine.
1991 – Addressing the Physician Shortage in Occupational and Environmental Medicine is published by the Institute of Medicine.
1992 – Americans with Disabilities Act is passed.
1993 – Injury Control in the 1990s: A National Plan for Action is published by the Centers for Disease Control.
1998 – American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Foundation established.
1999 – Reducing the Burden of Injury is published by the Institute of Medicine.