Since its creation 83 years ago by H. W. Heinrich, the safety triangle offered a ratio formula that encouraged safety professionals to focus on the causes of minor injuries as a way to reduce the probability of having major accidents. It sparked a new way of interpreting safety data that may be flawed.
Dave Rebbitt, author of the cover story “Pyramid Power” in the September issue of the American Society of Safety Engineer’s monthly journal Professional Safety, makes the argument that the safety pyramid’s assumptions are off base. Managing minor incidents only improves these types of incidents. It does not affect the major incident rate.