History@Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth's History Blog

Tag Archives | health and safety

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50 Years On: the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act

By on November 28, 2024 in Public History, Research in Focus

Love it or hate it, you can’t escape it: the Health and Safety at Work Act has been an important part of UK working life (and wider) for 50 years. To mark its 50th anniversary, a day-long symposium was held in London on 25 November 2024: Health & Safety at Work Act – 50 years on: still fit for purpose? It was hosted by the Trade Union & Employment Forum of History & Policy, and brought together practitioners, trades unionists and academics – including the University of Portsmouth History team’s Dr Mike Esbester.  Mike’s research focuses on histories of safety, risk and accident prevention in modern Britain. Some of that has […]

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Dangerous operations: Railway goods guards’ safety burdens

By on August 10, 2023 in Research in Focus, Uncategorized

University of Portsmouth History student Lauren Lee produced a blog for the Railway Work, Life & Death project as part of her work on the second year core module ‘Working with the Past’, coordinated by Mike Esbester. In this blog, Lauren looks at some of the dangers encountered by goods guards while working on the railway, and reveals that tragic tale of one guard, William Jolley, who sadly lost his life while undertaking his duties.  Mike co-leads the RWLD project along with Karen Baker (Librarian, National Railway Museum) and Helen Ford (Manager, Modern Records Centre) with the assistance of Craig Shaw (Volunteer Administrator, NRM).  To read the blog, click this link.

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Bridging the gap between the academic and non-academic worlds III: Sharing local histories

By on February 20, 2023 in Alumni, Employability, Learning in Focus, Public History, Research in Focus, Uncategorized

In this blog Josh Wintle, who graduated with a History degree from Portsmouth last year (well done, Josh!), discusses a project he worked on in his second year with some of his fellow History students for the module ‘Working with the Past’, coordinated by Dr Mike Esbester. As part of their project, the students looked into how academic historians take their work ‘out of the academy’ and into the public realm. Josh and his fellow students interviewed our Dr Rob James, who researches leisure history, to find out how he has tried to engage the wider public in the history he researches. The aim of the interviews we conducted with […]

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‘”Bandied about for a place of refuge”: Extreme Weather, Coastal Shipping and the Loss of Lord Nelson, Liverpool 1840.’

By on October 26, 2022 in Research in Focus, Uncategorized

On 19 October 2022 our own Dr Cathryn Pearce, Senior Lecturer in Maritime History, presented at the first History research seminar of this academic year with a thought-provoking paper looking at the grounding of the coastal brig Lord Nelson at Liverpool, UK, and the civic and social responsibility for seafarers and the shipwrecked in a port dominated by shipping interest. If you missed the paper, the recording is available on the Port Towns and Urban Cultures website here (scroll down to find Cathy’s paper).  

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Accidents on the railways: A story of heartbreak and loss

By on June 30, 2022 in Learning in Focus, Public History

University of Portsmouth History student Jenny Leng produced a blog for the Railway Work, Life & Death project as part of her work on the second year core module ‘Working with the Past’, coordinated by Mike Esbester. Mike co-leads the RWLD project along with Karen Baker (Librarian, National Railway Museum) and Helen Ford (Manager, Modern Records Centre) with the assistance of Craig Shaw (Volunteer Administrator, NRM). In this blog, Jenny uncovers the stories of Portsmouth railway workers Godfrey and Albert Linegar, who were both involved in accidents at work, one resulting in heart-breaking loss. To read the blog, click this link.

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Health and Safety in Contemporary Britain

By on January 15, 2019 in New Publications, News

New Publications | Dr Mike Esbester, Senior Lecturer in History, has just published a book with Professor Paul Almond on Health and Safety in Contemporary Britain: Society, Legitimacy and Change since 1960. The book charts the development of modern British health and safety, in response to ideas around risk society, managerialism, regulatory capitalism, and demographic and economic changes in the workplace. Mike’s research focuses on the cultural history of safety, risk and accident prevention in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Health and Safety in Contemporary Britain – Society, Legitimacy, and Change since 1960 | Paul Almond | Palgrave Macmillan To read more about the book, click here.

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