About Us

Who has put the website together?

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is the UK’s family safety charity. As part of its mission to save lives and reduce injuries, its National Occupational Safety and Health Committee (NOSHC) gives advice on identifying ways and means of improving safety and health at work.

NOSHC is a voluntary association of people drawn from organisations representing a broad cross-section of occupational safety and health interests. Membership is by invitation of the Board of Trustees of RoSPA and is reviewed annually.

Updates

This website will be updated continually. Anyone with contributions to make should email contact@historyofosh.org.uk

Background

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) National Occupational Safety and Health Committee (NOSHC) decided in 2011 to take forward the History of Occupational Safety and Health project with the following aims:

• The prime objective of the History of Occupational Safety and Health (HOSH) project is to create a suitable map of occupational safety and health (OSH) information sources and materials from an historical point of view
• The web site is intended for anyone with an interest in the history of OSH, including students, lecturers, trainers and professionals and is not to be regarded as a ‘virtual museum’ at this stage
• The mapping of topics and sources is essential to provide a platform to encourage and help others such as university departments, museums and other institutions to contribute in various ways
• It was agreed that there needed to be a section to capture the oral history of HSW
• Where possible links should be to whole text
• The entry to the site should also contain links to as many summary histories as possible
• In the longer term it might be necessary to establish the Group as a Society, Association or Foundation to give it permanence.

This website, launched to mark the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April 2014, is the ongoing result of that project.

Thanks

RoSPA’s NOSHC is grateful for the invaluable support provided by:

• Sheila Pantry OBE, BA, FCLIP, IOSH Lifetime Achievement Award Winner 2013 – former Managing Director of Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd and former Head of the Health and Safety Executive’s Information Services
• David Eves CB – former Deputy Director General and Chief Inspector, Health and Safety Executive
• Roger Bibbings, MBE, IOSH Lifetime Achievement Award Winner 2010 – RoSPA’s Occupational Safety Adviser to February 2014
• Dr Peter Waterhouse BA, BSc, PhD, RSP, FIOSH – past President of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health