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Heinrichs Axioms of Industrial Safety

Industrial safety expert, H.W. Heinrich's 10 axioms of industrial safety stem from his domino theory. He said injuries occur due to a series of preventable incidents or factors. An accident occurs as the last step or last falling domino.

  1. Responsibility

    • Heinrich's axioms state that most accidents are caused by unsafe acts by people. A person who is injured has probably had many near misses.

    Causes

    • Heinrich determined four basic reasons for people-caused accidents. They are poor attitude, lack of skill, physical restrictions and poor working environment.

    Prevention

    • There are four fundamental ways to prevent most accidents. Engineering controls, worker training and supervision, paying attention and self-discipline.

    Supervisors

    • Supervisors typically have more knowledge and skills than a production worker and therefore are better equipped to take steps to prevent accidents. The four steps supervisors take include: identifying a problem, determining why the problem exists, developing a corrective measure and executing the correction.

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