HEINRICH'S THEORY

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HEINRICH'S THEORY

H.W. Heinrich, a pioneer in safety philosophy, first published his work. Industrial Accident Prevention, in 1931. Many of his principles and basic philosophy of accident causation and prevention are confirmed by time and application, but, some are also questioned and criticized. 

His philosophy is based on his 10 axioms (self evident-truths) as follows.

Ten Axioms of Industrial Safety:

1. The occurrence of an injury invariably results from a completed sequence of factors - the last one of these being the accident itself. The accident in turn is invariably caused or permitted directly by the unsafe act of a person and/or a mechanical or physical hazard.
2. The unsafe acts of persons are responsible for a majority of accidents.
3. The person who suffers a disabling injury caused by an unsafe act, in the average case has had over 300 narrow escapes from serious injury as a result of committing the very same unsafe act . Likewise, persons are exposed to mechanical hazards hundreds of times before they suffer injury.
4. The severity of an injury is largely fortuitous the occurrence of the accident that results in injury is largely preventable.
5. The four basic motives or reasons for the occurrence of unsafe acts provide a guide to the selection of appropriate corrective measures. These are: 
•  Improper attitude. 
• Lack of knowledge or skill, 
• Physical unsuitability and 
• Improper mechanical or physical environment.
6. Four basic methods are available for preventing accidents. These are 
• Engineering revision, 
• Persuasion and appeal. 
• Personnel adjustment and
• Discipline.
7. Methods of most value in accident prevention are analogous with the methods required for the control of the 'quality, cost and quantity of production.
8. Management has the best opportunity and ability to initiate the work of prevention, therefore it should assume the responsibility.
9. The supervisor or foreman is the key man in individual accident prevention. His application of the art of supervision for the control of work performance is the factor of greatest influence in successful accident prevention. It can be expressed and taught as a simple four step formula - 
• Identify the problem, 
• find and verify the reason for the existence of the problem, 
• select the appropriate remedy and 
• apply the remedy. 
10. The humanitarian incentive for preventing accidental injury is supplemented by two powerful economic factors:
• The safe establishment is efficiently productive and the unsafe establishment is inefficient 
• The direct employer's cost of industrial injuries for compensation claims and for medical treatment is about one-fifth of the total (direct plus indirect) cost which the employer must pay.

These axioms were the first set of principles or guidelines ever set before in industrial safety and it has guided all safety activity till today. During the passage of 75 years, some of his axioms are questioned and disbelieved as truths, but, most of them are still true and deal with the important areas of safety, viz. accident causation and prevention, reasons of unsafe acts and conditions, management control functions, responsibility of organization, costs of accident, safety and productivity etc.