In 1907 American coalmines killed 3242 men in occupational accidents. This work offers an account of why the American workplace was so dangerous, and why it is now much safer. The author describes the increasing dangers of industrial work in the late 19th-century America resulting from changes in technology and work practices under a legal system that minimized employers' responsibility for industrial accidents. He explores the developments that led to improved safety - including regulation, publicity for bad practices, and legislation that raised the cost of accidents by requiring employers to pay workmen's compensation. At the heart of these changes, Aldrich contends, is the emergence of a safety ideology that stressed both professional and management responsibility for work accidents - a stunning reversal of earlier attitudes.