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Crystal Eastman: a short but full life of a workplace safety pioneer Crystal Eastman came to Pittsburgh at the age of 26 in 1907. Graduate of Vassar with a Masters from Columbia University, she graduated second in her class at NYU Law School. Hired initially for two months by Paul Kellogg of the Pittsburgh Survey, she stayed more than a year investigating, in depth and in detail, the industrial accidents that occurred in Allegheny County during 1906-07. Her study of the county's 526 workplace deaths in a single year analyzed the specific hazards of various occupations including coal mining, steel making, and railroad work. She also extended accident investigations to detail the profound impact the deaths had on workers' families. She proposed safety reforms such as machine guarding. She highlighted the inadequacy of the law in regard to worker protection and exposed the pitiful levels of compensation paid for worker death and injury. Her classic Work Accidents and the Law is one of the most important contributions to the cause of worker health and safety produced in the United States. In 1909, as a result of her Pittsburgh Survey work, she was commissioned by the governor of New York to investigate work accidents and recommend legislation, which directly led to that state's workers' compensation law. The courts struck down the New York law shortly before the Triangle Shirtwaist fire that killed 146 women. Public outcry propelled the passage of workers' compensation laws in many states including Pennsylvania. Eastman campaigned against World War I and with social worker Jane Addams founded the Woman's Peace Party, a forerunner of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She was a founder of the American Union that evolved into the American Civil Liberties Union, where she served as a founding board member. With three other women she wrote the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923.
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