250 Years of Progress.
20 Years of Purpose.

As America prepares to celebrate a historic milestone, I'm reflecting on the people, workplaces, and lessons that shaped Atlantic Training's first twenty years.

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Anthony LaFazia, Founder & CEO of Atlantic Training — Anthony LaFazia Founder & CEO Atlantic Training

When I started this company in 2005, I wasn't trying to build a training empire or reinvent compliance. I had spent years on factory floors, construction sites, and working alongside safety and HR professionals. I kept seeing the same thing over and over again: training that checked a box but didn't really connect with the people taking it.

It felt like there had to be a better way.

Twenty years later, we've delivered more than 5 million courses and worked with over 10,000 organizations. Those numbers are exciting, but they're not what I'm most proud of.

What I'm proud of is being a small part of helping people do their jobs a little safer, a little smarter, and with a little more confidence than they had the day before.

The workplace is going to keep changing. Technology will change. Regulations will change. The way we learn will definitely change.

People won't.

At the end of the day, every course, every toolbox talk, every safety meeting, and every compliance program is really about one thing: helping someone get home safely and come back ready for tomorrow.

That's a mission worth showing up for.

Thanks for being part of our journey, and from all of us at Atlantic Training, have a safe and happy Fourth of July.

Anthony LaFazia Founder & CEO

20+ Years Serving Organizations
10,000+ Clients Served
5M+ Courses Delivered
225+ New Courses Added During 2025

250 Years of American Workplace Safety History, At a Glance

From colonial labor with zero legal protections to one of the most comprehensive worker safety frameworks in the world, the history of workplace safety in America is a story of tragedy, advocacy, and hard-won progress. We put the whole arc on one page.

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★ A Journey Rooted in Purpose ★

1776 America Founded
2005 Atlantic Training Begins
2019 Launch of WAVE LMS
20 2025 20 Years of Service
250 2026 America Turns 250

What's Inside the Timeline

Here's a sample of the milestones covered in Safety Through the Decades:

1911
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 workers and ignites the modern workplace safety movement.
1970
Congress passes the Occupational Safety and Health Act. For the first time, American workers have a federally enforceable right to a safe workplace.
1983
OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard launches the "Right to Know" era, and makes safety training a legal requirement for millions.
2005
Atlantic Training is founded on the belief that OSHA compliance shouldn't require a consultant, a massive budget, or a law degree.
2019
Atlantic Training launches WAVE, its own EHS management software and LMS, built for the era of electronic recordkeeping and scalable compliance documentation.
2026
America turns 250. Workplace fatality rates are at historic lows. The work isn't done, but the progress is real.

Plus 15 more milestones covering federal standards, landmark legislation, and the people and companies that pushed American workplace safety forward.

Free Resource · Evergreen & Shareable

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One page. 115 years of history. Download it, print it, share it with your team.

No spam. No sales call. Just a really good one-pager.

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Blog · 250th Anniversary

History of Workplace Safety: 250 Years of Progress That Built a Nation

On July 4, 2026, the United States turns 250 years old, and the story of that progress is inseparable from the story of American workers. From colonial-era labor with no legal protections to the sweeping federal framework created by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the history of workplace safety in America is a two-and-a-half-century journey shaped by catastrophe, advocacy, and the slow, hard work of changing what employers owe the people who show up for them. In this piece, we trace the full arc: the Progressive Era reforms ignited by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the landmark legislation that gave OSHA its teeth, the cultural shift from compliance-driven safety management to genuine safety leadership, and what the Total Worker Health framework means for the American workplace in 2026 and beyond.

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