[SystemSafety] Historical Questions

[Drew Rae]

Folks,
I have a couple of questions about the history of system safety that I’m digging for answers to, but there may be those on the list who can provide shortcuts. 

Accident investigation in the modern sense really  became a thing in the 19th century, along with the rise and increasing power of “inspectorates”. Some of the investigations are surprisingly rich in their discussion of organisational, regulatory and socio-technical aspects of safety. 
The big difference that I’m interested in between modern accident investigations and regulators and 19th century investigations and regulators is the discussion of generic safety practices such as identifying, assessing and managing risks. Early reports will talk about specific design features (e.g. boiler safety valves) and specific practices (e.g. what a railway signalman should or shouldn’t have done). They will also talk about generic management practices such as supervision, training, competency and information sharing. 

My questions - and I’d be pleased for people to just answer from their personal knowledge, to help me narrow it down

1. When did people start talking about the importance of identifying hazards, assessing risks etc as general practices?

2. When did people start talking about not doing these things or doing them badly as a cause of accidents? 

Ideally I’d like to pin down the earliest few instances of these ideas.

Regards,
Drew






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