During the early part of the 1900’s, the industrial workplace was considered extremely unsafe and unsanitary under today’s standards. Dr. Alice Hamilton was a pioneer in the industrial toxicology field for the first part of the century, and she set out to revolutionize the safety and well being of workers in the workplace. She would help break new ground for professional women as well.
Alice Hamilton had many reasons for beginning her crusade based on her own experiences. She had grown up in Chicago, where she had lived for 22 years. In her autobiography, Exploring Dangerous Trades, she is quoted saying, “Living in a working-class quarter, coming in contact with laborers and their wives, I could fail to hear tales of the dan