The historical development of occupational health in Australia Part 2: 1970-2000

Australian occupational health was shaped by various social, political and economic forces during the latter half of the last century. An overall downturn in manufacturing and increased wage restraint during the early 1970s, encouraged trade unions to turn their attention to broader social issues, such as workplace health. Mainstream Australian society was also being influenced by wider community sentiment during this time, including anti-war protests, environmental lobby groups and the women's movement. Interest in occupational health subsequently flourished, with formalised education commencing in the 1970s, and the number of tertiary courses rapidly increasing throughout the 1980s. Occupational health and worker's compensation legislation similarly evolved throughout the latter stages of the twentieth century. Australian workplace health and safety is now based on a theory of self-regulation and managed in a tri-partite model, consisting of employers, trade unions and government departments. In Part 1 of our occupational health review, we outlined the historical development of Australian occupational health between 1788 and 1970. In the current paper, Part 2, we describe the historical development of Australian occupational health between 1970 and 2000.