Hygienists, workers' bodies and machines in nineteenth-century France
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12529313 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Le Roux (0000-0002-6969-9943, Centre de Recherches Historiques, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 255-270 |
| Publication date | 2013-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Review of History Revue européenne d histoire (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1350-7486 • E-ISSN: 1469-8293 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13507486.2013.766523 |
| OpenAlex | W1980703452 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 27 |
The new machines introduced by industrialisation subjected workers' bodies to a new pace of work, new tasks and hitherto unknown risks. While the hygienist community in France contributed enormously to the emergence of public health in Europe, it focused only belatedly on the dangers of machines for the physical integrity of workers. This article seeks to explain why there was so little interest in this issue during the first phase of French industrialisation (1800–70). Industrial work was perceived by public-health advocates as a step forward compared to former crafts, often carried out in unhealthy workshops. For them, machines helped rationalise production tasks, ventilate workspaces, relieve workers' suffering and replace men for the most laborious and dangerous tasks. Because of these many advantages, they forgot about the drawbacks of industrial mechanisation. As the decades went by, accidents due to machines maimed and killed more and more workers. Despite the warnings issued by some doctors, it was not until the 1860s that hygienists started to question the benefits of machines. However, engineers rather than doctors took over the responsibility of safety at work, followed by lawmakers who dealt with this issue at the end of the nineteenth century
Business · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Industrialisation · Occupational safety and health · Pace · Political science · Public relations · Work (physics · Engineering · Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History of Science and Medicine · Law · Mechanical Engineering
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Common Ground
The Wounded Soldiers of Industry
The Wounded Soldiers of Industry
Working Environments
L'emprise de la machine à coudre
L'hygiène professionnelle en France au XIXe siècle
Les maladies professionnelles dans les "Annales d'hygiene publique et de medecine legale" ou une premiere approche de l'usure au travail
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Le travail de la routine
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,23 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2014 (2) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |