Friedhelm Burkardt

Friedhelm Burkardt (born August 4, 1929 in Castrop-Rauxel , † November 26, 1998 in Nairobi , Kenya) was a German psychologist and professor of occupational and traffic psychology .

life and work

Burkardt's father was an elementary school teacher. Burkardt himself received a 4-year elementary school education, then switched to high school and graduated from high school in 1950. He then began studying psychology in Erlangen . After the fourth semester, he moved to the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). There he gained insights into empirical psychology and its methods. After returning to Germany, Burkardt obtained a diploma in psychology in April 1955. After completing his studies, he worked for the Technical Monitoring Association in Essen (TÜV) from 1959. There he carried out aptitude tests on mine locomotive drivers, drivers, shooting masters , industrial study hunters and miners with a high number of accidents. He therefore dealt with the so-called "accident personality". In an experimental work for the Ministry of Transport, he investigated the effects of small amounts of alcohol on the ability to drive. With this study, Burkardt received his doctorate in 1962 at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Cologne under Professor Udo Undeutsch . In 1962 Burkardt took over the management of the psychological service at Salzgitter Hüttenwerk AG. From 1965 Burkardt undertook study and lecture trips to South Africa, where the question of personnel management was in the foreground. In 1973 Burkardt was appointed to the newly created chair for work and traffic psychology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . There he worked for over two decades and was involved a. a. as dean of the faculty and as managing director of the Institute for Psychology. Burkardt also combined practice and theory as a university lecturer. He supervised dissertations and a large number of diploma theses.

Burkardt's improvement measures included his five-step method for behavior modification in hot spots (1970). This included 1. the analysis of accident blackspots, 2. the definition of rules of conduct, 3. the development of a plan of measures, 4. its implementation and 5. the effectiveness check. These were sensible steps for the practitioner that could be worked through. The five-step method was included in the nationwide training of occupational safety specialists; it was part of the training for decades.

In 1957 Friedhelm married Burkardt; the son Albrecht Burkardt is now professor of history at the University of Limoges (Université de Limoges) in France. Burkardt died on November 26, 1998 after a long and serious illness. He is buried near Naru Moru on Mount Kenya. Friedhelm Burkardt's academic papers are located in the psychology- historical research archive of the FernUniversität in Hagen.

Selected publications

• Burkardt, F. (1964). Studies on the effect of small amounts of alcohol on mental functions that are important for driving. Cologne: Research Association Man in Traffic.
• Burkardt, F., Schubert, G & Schubert, U. (1970). Occupational Safety Psychology. Koblenz: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety.
• Burkardt, F. (1992). Work safety learning processes. Five-step method for influencing behavior at accident blackspots. Grävenwiesbach: Verlag für Arbeitsschutz.
• Burkardt, F. & Colin, I. (1997). Leading to safety: motivation in occupational safety. Universum Verlag.

Individual evidence

• Hoyos, C. Graf (1999). Obituary for Professor Dr. Friedhelm Burkardt (1929–1998). Psychological Rundschau, 50 (3), 169–170.
• Lück, HE & Rothe, M. (2016). Friedhelm Burkardt: Psychology in the service of occupational safety. Report Psychology, 41 (7/8). Pp. 310-311.