Occupational Health

Bernardino Ramazzini  ------
The Father of Occupational Medicine
The understanding of occupational diseases dates back to 1700, when the Italian physician Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714) wrote Diseases of Workers. As a result of these studies, he was regarded as the Father of Occupational Medicine.

Ramazzini's Legacy
Certainly Physician Ramazzini can be credited with awakening the medical community to the need to protect workers from any hazards they may encounter from their occupation or their occupational environment. He can also claim credit for ensuring that health emergencies related to occupation or occupational environment are understood and dealt within a healthy and accurate manner. Industrial medicine, factory and safety laws, and the eventual introduction of the treatment of occupational diseases into workers' compensation laws can surely be traced back to Ramazzini  
Ramazzini was the one who taught the physicians to ask the fundamental health question –“ What work you do?” to a patient when taking  the medical history.