From Safety to Safety Science

2 Accident proneness, safety by inspection

1910‒1930

DOI: 10.4324/9781003001379-2

This chapter discusses the second and third decades of the twentieth century. In the United States, attention is focused on managing safety and the first safety science manuals are published. In the late 1920s, an influential author, Heinrich, appeared on the safety stage. In the United Kingdom the first scientific safety theory was published: the accident proneness theory, later referred to as the ‘individual hypothesis’. Also, arguments for the ‘environmental hypothesis’ were published. In the Netherlands the individual hypothesis remained popular and followed knowledge developments in safety from abroad.

As 1910 opened a new decade, drumbeats of war were ...