12 Things Every 1970s British Factory Worker Did. 9 Are Illegal Now

Twelve things a 1970s British factory worker did on a normal shift: nine are illegal now, and three never were. The year and the law for each, and what a Gledhill-Brook clocking-in clock like the one at the gate sold for at auction: £150, one sale, not a price list. A shift from the gate to the dinner-time hooter: the school leaving age, the machine guard and the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974, noise, smoking and asbestos, equal pay, the closed shop, the working week, the cash wage packet, the tea lady and the lunchtime pint. Tell me in the comments. Check your loft. You never know what you kept. Chapters 00:00 The Factory Gate 01:09 Clocking In 02:30 The Machine 05:25 Noise and Smoke 08:25 The Pay Slip 10:57 The Long Week 12:33 Dinner Time 14:43 The Clock on the Wall 15:51 Here's Where I Stand Sources Factories Act 1961, section 14: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factori... Robens report: https://www.historyofosh.org.uk/roben... Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, 50 years on (RoSPA): https://www.rospa.com/news-and-views/... The Act and its section 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_... PPE at Work Regulations 1992: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona... HSE, deaths at work since the early 1970s: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/ass... HSE, workers killed in 2025/26 (provisional): https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fat... Baker v Quantum Clothing, Court of Appeal, 2009: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.... HSE, noise regulations: https://hse.gov.uk/noise/regulations.htm ASH, smokefree legislation: https://ash.org.uk/uploads/SmokefreeL... ONS, 40 years of smoking in Great Britain: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati... HSE, mesothelioma statistics: https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/ass... Equal Pay Act 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_P... Ford Dagenham, 1968: https://libcom.org/history/1968-ford-... Women's pay in 1970: https://trainingzone.co.uk/?p=25222 Sex Discrimination Act 1975: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Dis... Race Relations Act 1976: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Re... The closed shop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_... Working Time Regulations 1998: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working... National Minimum Wage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa... The Truck Acts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_Acts HSE, drink at work: https://www.hse.gov.uk/alcoholdrugs/t... The lunchtime pint, 2008: https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/A... Manufacturing share of jobs: https://www.cityam.com/uk-manufacturi... Raising of the school leaving age: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising... Gledhill-Brook Time Recorders: https://workclocks.co.uk/gledhill-bro... The £150 sale, Denhams, 6 July 2016: https://denhams.com/antique-auction/j... Clips from NASA and Wikimedia Commons, trimmed and cropped; photos from Wikimedia Commons: Tim Sheerman-Chase, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Konrad Grunsky-Peper, Gabriel Simons / LVR-Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Footage courtesy of NASA Gabriel Simons / LVR-Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... FILMING CORK, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... CastIronSeasoner, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Map data: Natural Earth, public domain. Place search: © OpenStreetMap contributors (Nominatim). This video uses AI-generated visuals and an AI narration voice. Arthur is a fictional narrator. Facts and auction values are sourced in the description; values vary by condition and are not financial advice.