Before the passage of OSHA,several defenses allowed employers to escape liability for injuries in the workplace.One of these is the fellow servant rule which says:

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Prior to passage of OSHA, there was no comprehensive national legislation about workplace safety, and state laws varied greatly. Employers could locate their workplaces in states with lax safety laws providing little protection for workers. Under such laws, employees were often limited in the damages they could recover due to injuries arising from the employer's unsafe workplace. Several defenses were available to employers to escape liability for providing an unsafe work environment. Contributory negligence allowed the employer to defend against the employee's injury suit by claiming that the employee contributed to the injury through the employee's own negligence. The assumption of risk defense precluded the employee from recovering when the employee knew of a risk involved in the workplace, chose to chance not being injured, and was in fact injured. The fellow servant rule permitted the employer to escape liability when the negligence was the fault of an employee rather than the employer. As you can imagine, injured workers did not find much protection under these laws requiring that the employer provide a safe working environment.

Before the Passage of OSHA,several Defenses Allowed Employers to Escape