[Occupational lead poisoning 1892-1936].

The first Norwegian factory inspection act was passed in 1892. Until 1931, little attention was paid to occupational lead poisoning. In 1915 the physician Olai Lorange (1876-1965) was appointed chief of the factory inspectorate. In 1916 he initiated a registration of lead poisoning in Norway. In 1920 he also called on Norwegian doctors to report diseases considered to be of occupational origin. The results were scanty. Attention was paid to occupational lead poisoning in a draft legislation put forward in 1923. However, the motion was not put to vote during the depression after the First World War and was not passed until 1936. Historically, lead exposure has in periods been forgotten as a cause of disease, only to reappear. In Norway, occupational lead poisoning attracted attention in 1931-33, when 46 cases were reported from a shipyard. The inspectorate laid down regulations and the government granted compensations and pensions to 40 of the workers. Based on worker protection acts and regulations, yearbooks from the factory inspectorate, and medical literature, the article describes attitudes towards occupational lead poisoning in the early years after the first Norwegian factory inspection act was implemented.