Organisation of health and safety supervision within the system of secondary technical education in the railway sector of the Russian Empire (second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries)

This article examines the mechanisms governing the health and safety supervision at railway engineering colleges (REC) and a number of specialist secondary educational institutions in the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The authors aim to conduct a comprehensive study of the system for preventing diseases and assessing the professional aptitude of future technical specialists against the backdrop of the rapid development of the railway transport sector. The main sources used include the annual reports of the Perm, Omsk, Khabarovsk, Vologda, Kharkiv and Yelets RECs, which were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Railways, as well as the documentation of the Komissarov Technical College (KomTC) and the Omsk Technical School, which were subordinate to other departments, covering the period from 1865 to 1916. The methodological framework encompasses comparative/historical, source-critical and quantitative analysis, as well as generalisation. The research is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines methods of historical science and social hygiene. The study revealed that educational institutions administrations regarded the physical condition of students as a critical factor in their professional adaptation within the railway industry. It revealed as well that the medical screening process upon admission served as a strict preventive measure: the percentage of candidates rejected on health grounds varied, reaching as high as 36% in some years. It is shown that the work of doctors at the RECs, in addition to controlling the spread of epidemic diseases (typhus, smallpox), included monitoring of hygiene standards, as well as educational work and control of students’ physical fitness. The study highlights the distinction between the centralised medical model practised by the Ministry of Railways, which was based on departmental hospitals, and the autonomous system of intensive medical supervision at the KomTC. The obtained results indicate that the physical condition of students was regarded by the state system as a key factor promoting successful professional adaptation and due fitness for work of future railway industry employees.