The New Deal Promoted Workplace Safety

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)  

The New Deal was a momentous time in labor history. Numerous laws, policies, and programs promoted workplace safety.

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

The Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938 prohibited the employment of children in dangerous jobs (this was only one part of the legislation). The Wagner Act (1935) protected the rights of workers to unionize and bargain for, among other things, safer working conditions.

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

"There was an intensive safety program in the CCCs. We were taught how to carry and use tools safely in all phases of our work. The forester in charge of our safety program did an excellent job in making us safety conscious in the way we worked and lived. This safety training has never left me. This was over 45 years ago when most businesses had not recognized the value of safety programs."

--Manuel Gomez, CCC alumni, in the book Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, by Perry H. Merrill, 1981.  

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)