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Revisiting Heinrich’s Impact on Safety

Aug 21, 2023

Carsten Busch, a safety historian, challenges the criticism of safety pioneer Herbert William Heinrich in an engaging interview. He explores Heinrich's work, emphasizes the importance of context, and reveals the surprising role of insurance companies in workplace safety. Carsten encourages safety professionals to read Heinrich's work before forming their opinions and explains the relevance of asking good questions. Check out Carsten's book on Heinrich and recommended reading. Safety Labs dives into the origins of safety as a profession and the concept of the 'new view' in safety.

54:37

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Episode guests

Carsten Busch

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Understanding the original ideas of Herbert William Heinrich is crucial for reassessing his work and legacy in modern safety practice.

The historical context, including the influence of insurance companies and the emergence of safety as a profession, is essential for comprehending Heinrich's contributions to workplace safety.

Deep dives

Appreciating Heinrich's Work and Legacy

Karsten Bush believes it is important to reassess the work and legacy of Herbert William Heinrich, the founder of modern safety practice. While many people discuss and criticize Heinrich's work without actually reading it, Bush emphasizes the need to understand his original ideas. This realization came to him during a lengthy online discussion on Heinrich's concept of 88% of accidents being caused by human failure. To truly evaluate Heinrich's work, one must engage with his actual writings and consider the historical context in which he operated, including the influence of insurance companies and the emergence of safety as a profession.

Introduction

2min

Unraveling Safety Myths

9min

Heinrich's Background and Context

2min

The Origins of Safety as a Profession

15min

Exploring the 'New View' in Safety

20min

The Importance of Asking Good Questions and Starting to Read Earlier in Safety

2min

Exploring Resources on Safety and a Book Recommendation

3min

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Carsten Busch - the "Indiana Jones of Safety", who has over 25 years of experience in HSEQ Management. and is a tutor in the Lund University human factors and system safety program.

Carsten is also a Safety historian and has extensively researched and written about the work of Herbert William Heinrich - and shares his finding with us in this fascinating interview.

Heinrich is considered by many to be the founder of modern Safety practice, but has become a polarizing figure in today’s safety discourse.

Carsten believes Heinrich’s work and legacy should be reappraised, and he helps Safety professionals understand what he actually wrote - rather than basing their knowledge on hearsay.

One of Carsten’s main concerns is that New View Safety authors aren’t applying their own principles when they criticize Heinrich and could be positioning his work to reinforce their own approaches.

Context is key and you’ll discover what Heinrich actually said, who his primary audience was (not Safety professionals!), and the surprising role insurance companies played in enhancing Workplace Safety in the 1930s.

Carsten’s book investigating Heinrich:

Preventing Industrial Accidents: Reappraising H. W. Heinrich

Recommended additional reading from Heinrich’s time:
Men and machines: Amazon.com: Chase, Stuart

Find out more about Carsten’s work:

Home (mindtherisk.com)

Carsten on LinkedIn:

Carsten Busch | LinkedIn

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