Working Conditions During The Industrial Revolution

Work accidents, deaths and diseases, come from antiquity. Several reports of accidents, poisonings with substances and deaths are seen from Hippocrates, who is the father of medicine, Industrial Revolution, etc. In the period of the Industrial Revolution in England, in the mid-eighteenth century, the number of accidents and injuries related to work increased due to industrialization, use of primitive machinery, workforce represented by women and children mostly high work load, lack good working conditions, etc. However, in this time the concern about working conditions and social rights were not much reported. After the end of the First World War, because of the conditions which the workers were living and the large number of illnesses and deaths, was created in 1919 the International Labor Organization, which changed the rhythm of time in relation to standards and practices to protect the health of the Worker season. Currently, the ILO is a great reference to these issues of health and safety at work (Santos, Brasilia, pp. 21-23, 2011). In Brazil, Occupational Health issues stand out from the colonial period. The use of a workforce to manual labor was common at that time among the bosses and their workers, most were slaves and Indians. At that time, also had no concern for prevention of accidents and diseases, as well as social rights of workers / slaves of the time (Frias, p. 135, 1999). The Industrial Revolution in Brazil arrived a little late compared to Europe, but worse working conditions and industrialization did not differ much. Minimum conditions of hygiene and cheap labor concentrated on women and children as well. All this politic process, economic, social and industrial, such as the invention of the steam machine and textile industry occurred in the world in the late nineteenth century, impacted the period of the Brazil Republic (Frias, p. 135, 1999). Only 300 years after of colonialism Brazilian, doctors started to discuss the relationship between work and health in medical schools, but it was not much issues, just a few theses. Only in 1920, an industrialist whose name was Jorge Street required a doctor to take care the health of his employees, but without seeing the relationship between work and disease, creating the first medical service in a company hired by the employer. It attracted the attention from other industrialists because they saw that if the industry has healthy employees, then it increases the company profits. The major diseases which were taking care of doctors in their free times were diseases which were the cause of absences at work. After that, over popular pressure, was created the first Law of Work Accident in 1939 in Brazil, Law-Decree 5.452, approved in May 1st 1943, in the Getulio Vargas’ governance. The Chapter V of this law established the Hygienic, Occupational Health, and Safety. “In 1959 the International Labor Office (ILO) published Recommendation 112, advising the companies to create medical services concerned with occupational health, but this recommendation was practically ignored in Brazil” (Facci, 2001). Some parts of this law were subsequently modified, but many of its principles and institutions remain. The inspection of the formal work came only after many years later. In the mid-1980 's, groups of health professionals began to concern with workers ' health, and then created the reference centers of workers ' health (CRSTs) which were responsible to provide primary care units of the local authorities, …show more content…
In 1966, through Law 5161, was created the National Center Foundation Safety, Hygiene and Occupational Medicine (Fundacentro) today Foundation Jorge Duprat Figueiredo, Safety and Occupational Health (Fundacentro), which the objectives are to do researches in the area of occupational health and safety. This institution receives a budget from MTE for the development of their studies. In addition, one important of the singular specific organs of MTE is the Department of Labor Inspection which is the responsible for the actions of work safety and health (Santos, Brasilia, pp. 23-24, 2011). The MTE through the GM Ordinance nº 3214, June 8 of 1978, establishes the Regularing Norms (NRs). They are used by labor inspectors MTE to supervise the work environments where they have legal authority to impose administrative