The following timeline lists the major railroad accidents and crashes worldwide from 1830 to the present. As a result, British mines used mining methods that recovered nearly all of the coal because they used waste rock to hold up the roof. We've got you covered with our map collection.Need a reference? The continuing problem of mine explosions also led to the foundation of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) that same year. In 1913 companies founded the National Safety Council to pool information. Postwar Trends, 1945-1970. While workers injured on the job or their heirs might sue employers for damages, winning proved difficult. Public efforts to improve safety date from the very beginnings of industrialization. killed in train wrecks and disasters Our collection of train wreck deaths were compiled from actual
Ironically, however, in 1940 six disastrous blasts that killed 276 men finally led to federal mine inspection in 1941.Source: U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census, The economic boon and associated labor turnover during World War II worsened work safety in nearly all areas of the economy, but after 1945 accidents again declined as long-term forces reasserted themselves (Table 4). Reflecting the high wages and vast natural resources of a new continent, this American system encouraged use of labor saving machines and processes. It also had a completely air conditioned train, and it was a forerunner in the use of diesel-electric locomotives. American coal deposits by contrast, were both vast and near the surface; they could be tapped cheaply using techniques known as “room and pillar” mining. British methods also concentrated the working, making supervision easy, and required little blasting. But while most of the commissions were intended to improve safety, they had few powers and were rarely able to exert much influence on working conditions. After the Civil War life and accident insurance companies expanded, and some workers purchased insurance or set aside savings to offset the income risks from death or injury. Similarly, the first state mining commission began in Pennsylvania in 1869, and other states soon followed. For such reasons, American methods yielded more coal per worker than did European techniques, but they were far more dangerous, and toward the end of the nineteenth century, the dangers worsened (see Table 1).Source: British data from Great Britain, General Report. The railroad, however, went beyond the Ohio River and its lines went as far west as St. Louis and Chicago.
Congress and the Railroads Record Group 46 Records of the U.S. Senate Records of the Senate Committee on the Pacific Railroad (1863 -73) Records of the Senate Committ ee on Railroads (1873-1921) Records of the Senate Select and Standing Committees on Pacific Railroads (1889-1921) Records of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce (1887-1946) During the "Golden Age of Railroads" (1900-1945) railroads were the major mode of transportation for millions of Americans. Other data from Aldrich, Nineteenth century American railroads were also comparatively dangerous to their workers – and their passengers as well – and for similar reasons. The one source of danger that did decline was mine explosions, which diminished in response to technologies developed by the Bureau of Mines. Death indexes of persons killed in train wrecks and disasters. “Institutional Change in Shopfloor Governance and the Trajectory of Postwar Injury Rates in U.S. Manufacturing, 1946-1970.” Great Britain Home Office Chief Inspector of Mines. Compare that to 291,557 U.S. servicemen killed in battle during World War II. Whether American methods were less safe than those in Europe is unclear but by 1900 they were extraordinarily risky by modern standards, for machines and power sources were largely unguarded. As a result, Americans developed production methods that were both highly productive and often very dangerous. Between 1911 and 1921 forty-four states passed compensation laws.The sharp rise in accident costs that resulted from compensation laws and tighter employers’ liability initiated the modern concern with work safety and initiated the long-term decline in work accidents and injuries. Sometimes railroad accidents are caused by human error, but other causes include derailment, explosions on board, and bridge collapses.Test your knowledge with Infoplease trivia and quizzes. Samuel Gompers, leader of the American Federation of Labor had studied the effects of compensation in Germany. Other websites already do an excellent job of crowd-sourcing a single cemetery together. But whether these new technologies generally worsened the dangers of work is unclear. Railroad companies were at first reluctant to hire Chinese workers, deeming them too "weak," but the immigrants soon proved to be a vital powerhouse. Before the late nineteenth century we know little about the safety of American workplaces because contemporaries cared little about it. What is clear is that nowhere was the new work associated with the industrial revolution more dangerous than in America.Americans modified the path of industrialization that had been pioneered in Britain to fit the particular geographic and economic circumstances of the American continent. Our collection of train wreck deaths were compiled from actual newspaper reports.