Key Takeaways

• Evolution of Workplace Safety: The five eras of workplace safety maturity highlight how safety management has evolved from a reactive, dangerous environment during the "Era of Death" to a proactive, data-driven approach in the current "Era of Assurance."
• Era of Death: The late 1800s to early 1900s was marked by high industrial fatalities and unsafe working conditions, with little to no safety protocols in place. Tragic events like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire pushed the need for safety reforms.
• Era of Engineering: From the early 1900s to the 1970s, engineering solutions like safer machinery and fire escapes were introduced to mitigate risks, but safety improvements were inconsistent and lacked standardisation across industries.
• Era of Compliance and Era of Consensus Standards: Starting in the 1970s, formal regulations like the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were established, making compliance mandatory. By the 1990s, industries adopted consensus standards (ISO, IOSH) to go beyond compliance and continuously improve safety practices.
• Era of Assurance: Since the 2010s, organisations have focused on ensuring the effectiveness of safety systems through data, evidence, and cross-functional collaboration. The goal is not just compliance but proving that safety processes are delivering tangible improvements and reducing risks.

Introduction

From the late 1800s to the present day, the approach organisations have taken towards workplace safety has changed dramatically, reflecting advancements in industrial practices, regulatory oversight, and organisational culture. These eras demonstrate how safety management has gradually moved from a reactive, compliance-based approach to a more proactive, systemic one.

In this blog, we will look at each of the Five Eras of Safety Maturity:

In addition to bringing to light industry's changing approach to safety management, this historical progression will also serve as a foundation for our next post on the levels of safety maturity that organisations should strive for.

1. Era of Death (Late 1800s – Early 1900s)

The Era of Death refers to the early days of industrialisation, when workers transitioned from rural agricultural work to hazardous industrial environments. As factories grew and cities expanded, workers found themselves in dangerous, unregulated conditions, operating heavy machinery and building skyscrapers with little to no safety protocols in place. This era earned its grim name because once incidences were finally being tracked, the number of fatalities was startling. The new data revealed just how deadly industrial jobs were at the time.

During this era, safety knowledge was practically non-existent. Employers prioritized production over protection, and workers faced high fatality rates due to unsafe working conditions. Accidents were seen as an unavoidable part of the job and there were no safety standards, regulations, or oversight. Without legal requirements, employers rarely invested in worker safety.

Throughout the Industrial Revolution, the UK experienced countless sweatshop fires, textile mill disasters, and mine explosions (such as the Pretoria Pit disaster at Hulton Colliery in 1910, killing 344) that exposed the brutality of unregulated labour.

Though this era is marked by high death rates and unsafe conditions, it laid the groundwork for future safety improvements. The tragedies of the Era of Death pushed industry leaders and the public to recognise the importance of protecting workers.

2. Era of Engineering (Early 1900s to the 1970s)

The Era of Engineering was driven by the need to address widespread industrial fatalities and accidents. This period saw safety concerns begin to be taken seriously as organisations sought to engineer solutions to prevent the deadly incidents of the past. The tragic events of the early 1900s highlighted the inadequacies of existing workplace structures and practices. Engineering solutions, such as fire escapes and safer building designs, were introduced in response. The era was characterised by a focus on improving machinery, equipment, and facilities to prevent accidents.

During this time, professional safety organisations began to form, including bodies such as the Institution of Industrial Safety Officers (later IOSH) in the UK, alongside professional engineering and safety societies in North America and Europe, which helped promote technical approaches to accident prevention. Safety improvements were predominantly technical, aimed at mitigating the hazards of dangerous equipment, poor ventilation, and unsafe building designs.

However, despite these advancements, safety requirements remained fragmented and inconsistent across industries and regions. While organisations were becoming more aware of the importance of worker safety, the lack of coordinated, comprehensive safety regulation and enforcement meant that many hazards persisted. This era marked the beginning of systematic efforts to reduce workplace risks through technology and design, laying the groundwork for the next phase in safety evolution. The Era of Engineering brought critical improvements but demonstrated that engineering solutions alone were not enough without coordinated standards, management systems, and attention to human and organisational factors.

3. Era of Compliance (1970s – 1990s)

The Era of Compliance accelerated in the 1970s with the introduction of modern, systematised occupational health and safety legislation, marking a significant shift in workplace safety governance. The creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the United States in 1970, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK in 1974, and comparable national regulators emerging across Europe, Australia and other industrialised nations established enforceable legal frameworks for workplace safety. These bodies introduced structured legal requirements covering training, protective equipment, hazard control, and injury reporting, supported by inspection and enforcement mechanisms.

In the UK, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the suite of supporting regulations (including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and others) provided a detailed, legally enforceable framework against which employers’ safety performance was assessed and judged. This era was characterised by a strong focus on compliance metrics like accident frequency rate (AFR) and accident injury rate (AIR), which became primary indicators of safety performance.

This period saw substantial reductions in reported injury rates across many industrialised nations as regulatory oversight, technological improvements, and structured safety programs became more widespread. The era also established clearer employer accountability, formalised safety management responsibilities, and strengthened reporting and enforcement systems.

However, by the late 1990s it became evident that while compliance-based approaches had significantly reduced injury rates, their effectiveness in driving further improvements was diminishing. Further reductions in serious and fatal injuries proved more difficult to achieve, and major industrial accidents continued to occur. These limitations highlighted that rule compliance alone could not fully address complex, system-level risks, setting the stage for the next evolution toward safety culture, leadership, and systems-based safety management.

4. Era of Consensus Standards (1990s – 2000s)

The Era of Consensus Standards gained momentum in the mid-to-late 1990s as organisations recognised that legal compliance alone could not fully address workplace safety. This period saw the growth of voluntary, consensus-based standards that extended beyond statutory requirements and focused on best practice, management systems, and continuous improvement. Standards were developed and coordinated by bodies such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the British Standards Institution (BSI), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Frameworks such as BS 8800 and OHSAS 18001 (later succeeded by ISO 45001) introduced structured occupational health and safety management systems that enabled organisations to manage risks systematically rather than relying solely on rule compliance. The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle became widely adopted as a model for ongoing risk management, performance monitoring, and continual improvement, aligning safety with broader quality and environmental management systems.

Unlike statutory regulations, consensus standards were generally voluntary, but they became widely recognised as global best practice. They provided organisations with flexible, auditable frameworks to address increasingly complex industrial environments, including technological change, new chemical processes, and ergonomic challenges. Regulatory authorities increasingly referenced consensus standards within guidance and legislation, acknowledging that these frameworks often evolved more rapidly than formal regulatory requirements.

The Era of Consensus Standards helped organisations move beyond minimum compliance towards proactive risk management and continual improvement. It reinforced a systems-based approach that integrated safety into core business processes and laid the foundation for later emphasis on leadership, culture, and human factors in safety performance.

5. Era of Assurance (2010s – 2020s)

The Era of Assurance, beginning in the early 2010s, marks a shift towards evidence-based safety practices that build upon, but extend beyond, compliance and consensus standards. This era emphasises not only having safety management systems in place but also demonstrating their effectiveness through data and measurable outcomes. Organisations moved from simply implementing safety processes to ensuring those processes deliver tangible improvements in workplace safety.

Safety management during this era has become increasingly integrated across business functions such as procurement, operations, and human resources. Companies have adopted leading indicators, which measure proactive safety efforts — such as training, hazard identification, and near-miss reporting — rather than relying solely on lagging indicators like injury rates. This approach allows organisations to anticipate and prevent incidents rather than merely react to them.

The Era of Assurance also prioritises cross-functional collaboration, with safety regarded as a shared responsibility across departments. Safety management systems (SMS) are increasingly driven by data, evidence, and continuous improvement frameworks such as ISO 45001. Auditing, verification, and performance assurance have become central components, requiring organisations to demonstrate that their safety systems are actively reducing risk. By collecting and analysing data, companies can show that safety practices are effective in practice rather than theoretical.

This era reflects a mature understanding of occupational health and safety, where compliance serves as a baseline, and the objective is continuous improvement through proactive, evidence-based approaches. The Era of Assurance has paved the way for more innovative and transformative safety cultures, reinforcing the integration of safety into overall business strategy and decision-making.

Conclusion: Looking Ahead to Safety Maturity Levels

The evolution of safety practices has taken organisations from the uninformed, hazardous days of the Era of Death through the structured approaches of the Era of Assurance, where safety is driven by data, proactive measures, and cross-functional collaboration. We’re fortunate to be part of an era where industry’s understanding of safety has reached such an advanced level of maturity.

Understanding the history of safety maturity, however, is only part of the equation. In our supporting blog, we dive deeper into the specific levels of organisational safety maturity — from Pathological to Transformative — to explore how businesses can progress through these stages. We discuss how organisations can elevate their safety performance, not just by meeting compliance requirements, but by creating innovative and collaborative safety cultures that go beyond mere prequalification and compliance.

Watch Our Safety Maturity Webinar!

If you would like to learn more about safety maturity and how your organisation can evolve toward becoming truly transformative in your approach to safety, watch our recent webinar Breaking Barriers: Going Beyond Traditional Risk Management.

Avetta is a SaaS software company providing supply chain risk management solutions. Avetta’s platform is trusted by over 130,000 suppliers in over 120 countries.

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