The Gruesome Origins of 7 Safety Laws 

Every safety label, seatbelt sign, and emergency exit has a story (and it’s often a pretty grisly one). Sadly, sometimes it takes tragedy to spur real change. These safety laws prove that they aren’t often written out of basic common sense, but born out of the chaos and wreckage of the latest disaster. What’s now consigned to another boring part of bureaucracy was once the key difference between life and death. Below, we explore seven safety laws that arose in the aftermath of various disasters.

1. Federal Meat Inspection Act // 1906
2. Flammable Fabrics Act // 1953
3. National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act // 1966
4. International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea // 1914
5. New York State Workplace Safety Laws
6. The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act // 1986
7. Massachusetts State Fire Safety Laws 

Federal Meat Inspection Act // 1906

In large part catalyzed by journalist Upton Sinclair’s incendiary exposé The Jungle, the Federal Meat Inspection Act is a federal regulation enacted in the early 20th century to mitigate unsanitary practices in the handling and processing of meat products. The Jungle was primarily intended to highlight the poor working conditions of meatpacking plants in Chicago. But the novel instead revolted the public in its revelation of the highly unsanitary conditions with which their meat was being produced and handled. 

Sinclair’s findings were originally published in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason; after they became public, President Theodore Roosevelt sent a delegation of his own to examine the meatpacking plants. And even though the plant’s workers had been warned of their arrival, the people Roosevelt dispatched still found detestable sanitary and working conditions upon their arrival.  

This prompted Roosevelt to throw his support behind the reform and enact the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act to regulate interstate processing and business. Alongside requiring the inspection of livestock prior to slaughter, the laws established regulatory sanitary conditions and authorized the United States Department of Agriculture to oversee meat processing practices. 

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Flammable Fabrics Act // 1953

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Flammable Fabrics Act into law in June 1953 to regulate the production and use of highly flammable fabrics like rayon. Rayon was a popular fabric choice for children’s clothing—and the extremely flammable fabric was connected to a slew of tragic deaths throughout the 1940s after children wearing the material were caught in quickly spreading blazes. 

President Lyndon B. Johnson amended the act in 1967 to include regulations surrounding the production of things like mattresses, carpets, and vinyl film. It was initially enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, but oversight of the law later switched to the Consumer Public Safety Commission upon its establishment in 1971. 

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act // 1966

The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act marked the establishment of the first federally mandated safety standards for motorized vehicles. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law on September 9, 1966.

Following the conclusion of World War II, automobiles had become an integral part of life in many parts of the country. With the rise of the automobile came the nearly 50,000 annual fatalities by the time the law was introduced in the mid-1960s. The act was galvanized by political activist Ralph Nader’s 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed—which exposed glaring safety concerns in General Motors’ Chevrolet Corvair—and created the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to enforce the newly passed regulations. 

The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was part of Johnson’s “Great Society” legislative initiative; it was one of several pieces of legislation he passed during his presidency to further social welfare programs across the country. By the early 1970s, seatbelts, shatter-resistant windshields, and shock-absorbing steering columns became standard in American automobiles, proving the law’s efficacy. 

International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea // 1914

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) arose in the wake of the cataclysmic sinking of the Titanic, which claimed more than 1500 lives. The British Government invited nations with considerable maritime activity to join together in establishing mutually agreed upon safety standards and emergency operating procedures.

Because the Titanic tragedy’s significant loss of life was largely attributed to an inadequate stock of lifeboats and poorly established systems of communication, the treaty first sought to address such glaring oversights. The initiative was unfortunately sidelined by the onset of World War I. But once the war ended, the British government again called for nations to convene for SOLAS. Countries including the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, and France came together to discuss the agreement. 

Since taking effect, SOLAS has been amended numerous times to modernize regulations and address technological developments. The treaty’s latest version (SOLAS 1974) was signed by more than 150 participating countries, representing more than 99 percent of the world’s merchant shipping. 

New York State Workplace Safety Laws

On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the eighth floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company’s factory near Washington Square in Manhattan. It’s widely believed to have started from a discarded match or cigarette. The blaze spread incredibly fast; it consumed the building’s eighth, ninth, and 10th floors within minutes. By the time firefighters brought the fire contro, nearly 150 workers (primarily immigrant women and young girls) were dead. 

The disaster highlighted some of the extremely dangerous practices at the company. Some exits were locked to prevent employee theft or unsanctioned breaks, which prevented people from being able to flee the inferno. The factory’s only fire escape also collapsed during the chaos and trapped dozens of employees inside with the fire. Once the flames had consumed the only two stairways offering escape, dozens of workers leapt from the factory windows to their death while horrified onlookers watched. 

The factory’s owners were tried (and later acquitted) of manslaughter and dozens of safety laws were proposed to prevent another such catastrophe. Eventually, more than 30 labor laws were introduced as a result of the fire. They established factory safety investigation committees; required fire safety drills and better fireproofing; and mandated the implementation unlocked, outward-swinging exit doors. 

The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire is regarded as a turning point in the American labor rights movement that led to widespread, comprehensive workers rights and safety reform. 

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act // 1986

In late 1984, more than half a million people in Bhopal, India, were exposed to highly toxic chemical gas after a storage tank at a nearby pesticide plant leaked more than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate into the air. The dense, deadly cloud drifted into nearby neighborhoods. More than 3000 people died within days of exposure, followed by another 15,000 to 20,000 in the weeks following. 

Survivors of the incident later reported high levels of chronic respiratory illness, neurological problems, and vision loss. Union Carbide—the American majority owner of the plant—later settled with the Indian government for $470 million. 

Another Union Carbide plant, this time located in West Virginia, faced a similar issue in 1985. There, a noxious cloud of aldicarb oxime escaped after a valve malfunctioned. Though no official deaths were linked to the West Virginia plant’s leak, more than 100 residents were hospitalized, galvanizing Congress to pass legislation surrounding commercial chemical processing. 

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act was introduced as a part of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act. It outlined requirements for state and local emergency planning and increased industry-wide accountability. The act, which received widespread bipartisan support, was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 17, 1986.  

Massachusetts State Fire Safety Laws 

In November 1942, nearly 500 people lost their lives after the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts, caught fire following an electrical short. The club had been filled to more than double its legal capacity. Its flammable palm tree decorations allowed the flames to spread quickly, sparking chaos inside as patrons scrambled to get out. The disaster became the deadliest nightclub fire in world history.

The Cocoanut Grove was owned by Barnet Welansky, a local businessman with powerful Mafia and political connections. The establishment had frequently ignored standard safety precautions and consistently locked or concealed exits to keep customers from leaving without paying—a practice that considerably exacerbated the fire’s casualties. 

Though Welansky’s connections had afforded him the ability to operate without proper facility inspections and permits, they could not protect him from the legal fallout that followed the tragedy. He was sentenced to serve 12 to 15 years on nine counts of manslaughter, though he’d end up serving just four when his political ally, Maurice J. Tobin, was elected governor and pardoned him. 

Massachusetts passed sweeping legislation to prevent another fire like that at Cocoanut Grove, including a ban on flammable decorations and requiring outward-opening emergency exits. The state also passed laws requiring illuminated exit signs and emergency lighting alongside required emergency training for staff. The Cocoanut Grove fire also led to increased government oversight of building safety and heavier fines for violations.