Learning from accidents

Interactions between human factors, technology and organisations as a central element to validate risk studies

authored by
Raphael Moura, Michael Beer, Edoardo Patelli, John Lewis, Franz Knoll
Abstract

Many industries are subjected to major hazards, which are of great concern to stakeholders groups. Accordingly, efforts to control these hazards and manage risks are increasingly made, supported by improved computational capabilities and the application of sophisticated safety and reliability models. Recent events, however, have revealed that apparently rare or seemingly unforeseen scenarios, involving complex interactions between human factors, technologies and organisations, are capable of triggering major catastrophes. The purpose of this work is to enhance stakeholders’ trust in risk management by developing a framework to verify if tendencies and patterns observed in major accidents were appropriately contemplated by risk studies. This paper first discusses the main accident theories underpinning major catastrophes. Then, an accident dataset containing contributing factors from major events occurred in high-technology industrial domains serves as basis for the application of a clustering and data mining technique (self-organising maps – SOM), allowing the exploration of accident information gathered from in-depth investigations. Results enabled the disclosure of common patterns in major accidents, leading to the development of an attribute list to validate risk assessment studies to ensure that the influence of human factors, technological issues and organisational aspects was properly taken into account.

Organisation(s)
Institute for Risk and Reliability
External Organisation(s)
University of Liverpool
Tongji University
Brazilian National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP)
NCK Inc.
Type
Article
Journal
Safety Science
Volume
99
Pages
196-214
No. of pages
19
ISSN
0925-7535
Publication date
11.2017
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality, Safety Research, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Electronic version(s)
https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/70388/1/Moura_etal_SS2017_Learning_accidents_interactions_between_human_factors_technology_organisations_central_element.pdf (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2017.05.001 (Access: Closed)