The old three Es

Enthusiasm for the early psychological approach waned because of the difficulty measuring its impact (Barry, 1975). In addition, the seminal research and scholarship of Haddon (1963, 1968) suggested that engineering changes held the most promise for large-scale, long-term reductions in injury severity. 

This brief history of the safety movement in the United States explains why engineering is the dominant paradigm in industrial health and safety (Petersen, 1991 Winn and Probert, 1995), with secondary emphasis on two additional Es —education and enforcement. Over the past several decades, the basic protocol for reducing injury has been to 

Engineer the safest equipment, environmental settings, and protective devices. 

Use discipline to enforce compliance with recommended safe work practices. 

Thanks to this paradigm most safety professionals are safety engineers who commonly advocate that Safety is a condition of employment.  

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