Before Accident Proneness
Before Accident Proneness
This chapter introduces the development of awareness of safety. Accident proneness had a particular background in the young science of psychology, and in the realm of general knowledge and belief. The core beliefs were stated in terms of familiar character flaws, which could be temporary or persistent: carelessness and clumsiness. It turned out that accident proneness was, like clumsiness, a natural characteristic of a person. The evidence suggests that around World War I, a functional gap appeared in Western culture that could be filled with the additive attribute of accident prone. The phenomenon and some idea of a category of a person who had repeated accidents were present in developed societies. The German origins of the term Unfallneigung, inclination to accident, are notable in confirming this impression and show how European thinkers were prepared for the idea of accident proneness when it appeared.
Keywords: safety, accident proneness, psychology, carelessness, clumsiness, Western culture, World War I
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