Scottish Engineering traces its origin back to formation in 1865, a timing generally accepted as fairly soon after the start of the first industrial revolution.

Our history records that the founding purpose of an engineering federation of member companies like ours was as a response to the development of labour law (or employment legislation) by building a professional team with expertise to advise and guide companies in their application of the law.

The world feels like a pretty fast-paced place most of the time these days, but it’s interesting to consider whether the mid-19th century onwards might have felt like riding a rocket in comparison. Things done by hand for centuries were mechanised in decades, communication via telegraph replaced fast horses, and the advent of electrical grid systems must have bordered on the magical.

That pace of technological change was not often sympathetic to the health, safety and wellbeing of the people building it, and with it rose a recognition that greater protection for this along with prevention of unfair practices in wage contracts was needed.

A prominent example came just two years after our formation with the Master and Servant Act of........

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