As a workers’ compensation attorney, you have the opportunity to help individuals who were injured on the job seek the monetary and medical benefits that they deserve. It must be rewarding doing so! However, that was not always possible: as industrialization bloomed and employees sustained injuries, few laws were in place to fully protect them. It took the work of several glowing girls poisoned by radium at their workplace to pave the way for the creation of stronger workers’ compensation laws and protection of employees.
Who are the Radium Girls?
Radium’s luminosity was quite the hype in the early 1900s. Radium firms’ research marketed that a small amount of radium could benefit one’s health. As a result, make up, hygiene products, and water were sold with traces of the element, and watches were sold with glowing radium dials. The danger of radium was extremely downplayed by the industry.
The United States Radium Corporations, USRC, was one of several companies that hired young girls – radium girls – to paint the glowing watch dials. They dipped brushes into the radium solution, placed the brushes between their lips to create a finer point, and painted the numbers. This was considered a great job. The pay was higher than that in factories, and many of the watches were used in the military, so there was also the satisfaction of helping one’s country. Plus, radium was glamorous – the girls and their clothes would permanently glow!
Eventually, the danger of radium caught up with the radium girls, and they started getting very sick. In 1922, radium painter Mollie Maggia developed a toothache, which resulted in several teeth being extracted, with ulcers replacing her teeth. She then experienced severe pain throughout her limbs and could not walk. By September of the same year, her jaw fell apart, the infection spread to her throat, and she died from blood hemorrhaging. Soon after, Mollie’s colleagues began to suffer from similar symptoms, but the USRC claimed zero responsibility for the mysterious illnesses and deaths.
Taking Their Case to Court
At the time, there were limited workers' compensation laws that would protect the sick girls. Further, the USRC went to great lengths to defend its image by publishing its own research studies showing that radium was not causing the girls’ illnesses. As a result, it took years for the radium girls to receive any compensation. It was not until 1925 that doctor Harrison Martland proved that radium poisoned the girls – it bore holes inside of their bodies, and the poisoning was fatal.
Grace Fryer, one of Maggia’s ill colleagues, decided to take the case to court, but even at this point, it was difficult to find a lawyer who would take her case. Many did not believe the girls, or did not want to fight a powerful radium corporation. Additionally, radium poisoning took several years to develop, so the girls’ two-year statute of limitations had expired. Fryer found lawyer Raymond Berry in 1927, but she and her colleagues only had months to live, so they were forced to settle.
However, this case was front-page news, and caught the attention of Catherine Wolfe, a dial painter at Radium Dial. Although the danger of radium resulted in fear and terror throughout the country as young girls continued to fall ill and die, just like the USRC, Radium Dial too denied any responsibility.
In 1938, Catherine Wolfe was extremely sick, just as Maggia and Fryer had been about 15 years before her, so she sued Radium Dial. Due to the Great Depression, she received considerably more resistance for fighting against a company that was still standing. Nonetheless, with the help of her lawyer Leonard Grossman, who worked pro bono, Wolfe gave evidence from her deathbed, and won her case that same year. Her victory resulted not only in compensation for herself and other radium girls, but also in victories for future workers across all industries.
Workers’ Compensation Legacy
In general, workers' compensation laws developed slowly during the industrialization period. Previously in the 1800s, any worker-employer laws were mostly master-servant laws. Although industrialization inevitably led to injuries in factories, industrialization was seen as positive, social-good progress; therefore, many of the existing laws reflected that attitude. The laws that did form were those protecting workers from tangible and traumatic injuries that were clearly caused in the workplace. They did not encompass latent workplace injuries.
Wolfe’s case resulted in protection for workers across the country, as this was one of the first cases in which an employer was held responsible for the health of its employees. It led to stronger workers’ compensation laws, protection for workers harmed by workplace diseases, and industrial safety standards. It eventually led to the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1971, and it has reduced workers’ deaths from about 14,000 to about 4,000 per year.
Besides workers’ compensation, the interest in radium led to further research and protection against other radioactive materials, such as plutonium and stronium-90. Many of the surviving radium girls volunteered themselves as subjects for radiation studies. As a result, during WWII, the Manhattan Project scientists who worked with plutonium did so in relatively safe conditions. Likewise, the results of the studies led to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which allowed nuclear tests to be performed only underground.
The radium girls will continue to glow in their coffins, seeing as radium has a half-life of 1,600 years, but so will their legacy.
Sources: https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/the-radium-girls-still-glowing-in-their-coffins/ https://www.buzzfeed.com/authorkatemoore/the-light-that-does-not-lie?utm_term=.bdzKkeMrW#.bjvnm037q https://www.voanews.com/a/radium-girls-remembered-for-role-in-shaping-us-labor-law-129169888/144746.html https://www.osha.gov/oshstats/commonstats.html http://www.realclearlife.com/history/radium-girls-left-legacy-scientific-civil-rights-contributions/ http://iancpilarczyk.com/the-radium-girls-deodands-and-the-rise-of-workers-compensation/