Alice Hamilton
(1869-1970)

LINKS ON THIS PAGE
Overview
Education and Training
Career Path
Selected Achievements
Occupational Health and Safety Today
CDC's Role
Tips to Reduce Your Risk for Hazardous Exposure at Work
Related Links

Overview

Alice Hamilton was born in New York, New York in 1869 and raised in Indiana. She made significant contributions through her work in occupational medicine. She died in 1970 at the age of 101.

Education and Training

• Degree at Fort Wayne College of Medicine in Indiana
  
  
• Medical degree from the University of Michigan
  
  
• Internships in Minneapolis and Boston
  
  
• Attended universities of Munich and Leipzich in Germany for a year with her sister, Edith Hamilton
  
  
  • Neither university had admitted females before, so she was permitted to attend lectures in bacteriology and pathology as long as she made herself inconspicuous to male students and professors
    
    

Career Path

• Researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland
  
  
• Professor of pathology at the Women’s Medical School of Northwestern University in Illinois
  
  
• Bacteriologist at the Memorial Institute for Infectious Diseases
  
  
• Director of the Occupational Disease Commission
  
  
  • This was the first such commission in the world.
    
    
  • Several worker’s compensation laws were passed in Illinois.
    
    
• Assistant professor of industrial medicine at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts
  
  
  • She became the first woman on the faculty of Harvard University and was not permitted to use the Faculty Club, to access football tickets, or march in commencement processions.
    
    
  • She became a faculty member of Harvard's School of Public Health.
    
    
• Consultant for the Division of Labor Standards of the U.S. Labor Department

Selected Achievements

• Established medical education classes and a well-baby clinic while staying at the Jane Addams's Hull House
  
  
• Made a connection between improper sewage disposal and the role of flies in the transmission of typhoid fever
  
  
• Pioneered occupational epidemiology and industrial hygiene in the US, beginning with investigations of lead poisoning among bathtub enamellers
  
  
  • This resulted in a series of reforms to reduce occupational exposure to lead.
    
    
• Studied carbon monoxide poisoning in steelworkers, mercury poisoning in hatters, and "dead fingers" syndrome among laborers using jackhammers
  
  
• Introduced the idea of worker’s compensation for disease and injury sustained on the job
  
  
• Replicated her research on a national level in an unsalaried position after being asked by the US commissioner of labor
  
  
  • Examined hazards from exposure to lead, arsenic, mercury, organic solvents, and radium (used in the manufacture of watch dials).
    
    
• Became the first woman to receive the Lasker Award in Public Health

Occupational Health and Safety Today

Each day, an average of 9,000 U.S. workers sustain disabling injuries on the job, 16 workers die from an injury suffered at work, and 137 workers die from work-related diseases. The Liberty Mutual 2002 Workplace Safety Index estimates that direct costs for occupational injuries in 1999 rose to $40.1 billion, with indirect costs reaching over $200 billion.

CDC's Role

CDC continues to build on the work done by Alice Hamilton. CDC helps assure safe and healthful working conditions for men and women by providing research, recommendations, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health. Activities include:

• Conducting research to reduce work-related illnesses and injuries
  
  
• Promoting safe and healthy workplaces through interventions, recommendations, and capacity building
  
  
• Enhancing global workplace safety and health through international collaborations

Tips to Reduce Your Risk for Hazardous Exposures at Work

• Receive proper training and follow guidelines. Employers are responsible for training and protecting their workers. Employees are responsible for learning about the hazards in their workplace, using personal protective equipment, and following proper work practices.
  
  
• Use personal protective equipment. Gloves, respirators, personal protective clothing, and other equipment can reduce exposures to workplace hazards.
  
  
• Store hazardous substances properly. Store chemicals in sealed containers when they are not in use. Be sure to follow guidelines for the storage of certain substances.
  
  
• Review material safety data sheets (MSDSs) for all hazardous materials used in your workplace. Employers are required to have copies of MSDSs and to provide them to workers upon request. If you are concerned about any hazards, discuss them with your health care provider.
  
  
• Prevent home contamination. Change out of contaminated clothing and wash with soap and water before going home. Store street clothes in a separate area of the workplace to prevent contamination. Wash work clothing separately from other laundry (at work if possible). Avoid bringing contaminated clothing or other objects home. If work clothes must be brought home, transport them in a sealed plastic bag.

Related Links

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov

Alice Hamilton*
http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/hamilton-a.html

Alice Hamilton, History*
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hamilton/hamhist.html

CDC's National Center for Environmental Health
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh

CDC's National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html

• About NIOSH*
  http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/about.html
  

Effects of Workplace Hazards on Female Reproductive Health*
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/99-104.html

Women's Safety and Health Issues at Work
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/women/

Work-Related Injury/Occupational Injury
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/osh.htm

Reproductive Health Issues at Work
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/repro/

*Used as a source for this Web page.

This page last reviewed March 24, 2005
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/women/owh/history/hamilton.htm