Heinrich's work is claimed as the basis for the theory of behavior-based safety by some experts of this field, which holds that as many as 95 percent of all workplace accidents are caused by unsafe acts.
[4] While Heinrich's figure that 88 percent of all workplace accidents and injuries/illnesses are caused by "man-failure" is perhaps his most oft-cited conclusion, his book actually encouraged employers to control hazards, not merely focus on worker behaviors.
"No matter how strongly the statistical records emphasize personal faults or how imperatively the need for educational activity is shown, no safety procedure is complete or satisfactory that does not provide for the ... correction or elimination of ... physical hazards", Heinrich wrote in his book.
[6] Heinrich Revisited: Truisms or Myths by Fred A. Manuele, CSP, PE [2002, ISBN 0-87912-245-5 published by National Safety Council offers the following in the last chapter.
Although psychology has a place in safety management, the emphasis Heinrich gave to it as being "a fundamental of great importance in accident causation" was disproportionate, and that overemphasis influenced his work considerably.
Application of the premise results in misdirection since those who apply it may presume, inappropriately, that if they concentrate their efforts on the types of accidents that occur frequently, the potential for severe injury will be addressed.
In Heinrich's Accident Factors, prominence is given to causal factors deriving from ancestry and environment and to the faults of persons that allegedly derive from inherited or acquired faults, that is, inappropriate with respect to current societal mores...The later book, "On the Practice of Safety, Third Edition," by Fred Manuele [2003, ISBN 0-471-27275-2 published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc] further discusses Heinrich and compares and contrasts his finding with those of W. Edwards Deming.