Radium Girls: The unsung heroes who fought for the safety of workers 

Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium in 1898. Due to the success of this chemical element in treating cancer, various companies across the United States started selling different commercial products made of radium, including dials. Unfortunately, hundreds of women died making these dials, thanks to radium poisoning. What’s even more sad is the fact that the companies were not even held accountable for employee deaths, all because of lack of law and safety guidelines. But after a series of deaths and lot of legal battle, a law was formed in the US to ensure that employers provide a safe and healthy work environment to employees that is free physical hazards such as exposure to toxic chemicals and excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, etc. This was known as the Occupational Safety and Health Act. This labour law was the result of the relentless fight of the fearless women who suffered and died from radium poisoning. They were known as Radium Girls.  

Who were the Radium Girls?  
The beginning of World War I witnessed the establishment of various factories across the United States. These factories produced watches and military dials painted with a radium-containing substance. This substance was radioactive and shined in the dark, helping the soldiers to see the time during night time. Many young ladies were employed for the painting the dials with radium. They were known as the Radium Girls. Their exposure to radium increased when the companies told these women to use their lips to wet the paintbrush tip to a point. It had to be done to paint some of the smaller watch dials. However, the women didn’t know this radium would soon threaten their life!  

The tragedy of Radium Girls   
The Radium Girls soon began to suffer the medical consequences of their radium exposure. For Mollie Maggia, one of the first victims, it began with a toothache. After removing one tooth, she had to have the adjacent tooth extracted too. If that wasn't enough, painful ulcers formed in the places where the teeth had been. With the eventual spread of the illness to other parts of her body, Maggia's lower jaw had to be removed too. Maggia passed away from a major haemorrhage on September 12, 1922.   

Other Radium Girls also started becoming fatally ill. The radium ingested by these women accumulated in their bodies. It released radiations that spread to their bones, physically digging holes inside them while they were alive! Grace Fryer, an employee of the United States Radium Corporation, one of the many watch companies at that time, had to wear a steel back brace because her spine was 'shattered.' Another girl's jaw was crushed, and her legs shortened and broke. At that time, people did not understand the reason behind these fatalities and accidents. In 1925, a pathologist named Harrison Martland, based in New Jersey, proved that radium poisoned the watch painters by destroying their bodies from the inside out. 

The fearless fight back 
The radium industry denied Martland's findings. But the Radium Girls were determined to fight back even though many of them knew that they were about to die. They wanted to help their friends who were still working with the toxic element. Grace Fryer led their fight and in 1927, a Newark based attorney Raymond Berry fought for them. The story of the Radium Girls from New Jersey hit the headlines, shocking the nation. However, the United States Radium Corporation, the company Grace worked for, denied its connection and women continued to fall ill and die. 

In 1938, another dying radium worker named Catherine Wolfe Donohue, assisted by lawyer Leonard Grossman, successfully sued the company she was working for, the Radium Dial Company in Illinois She, at last, achieved justice for all the workers.  

OSHA is formed 
The first case in which an employer was held responsible for an employee's death was that of the Radium Girls. It resulted in the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on April 28, 1971, the day when the Occupational Health and Safety Act became effective. It protects workers across the US from occupational hazards. Before its establishment, 14,000 people died on the job each year. Today, it is a little more than 4,500. After the establishment of OSHA, similar organizations were formed across the world to protect the safety and rights of workers.  

Apart from Grace Fryer and Catherine Donohue, there were thousands of fearless fighters we hardly know of. Want to know more about their brave stories? Watch the 2018 American drama film Radium Girls.