1st Edition

Incident Investigation and Accident Prevention in the Process and Allied Industries

By Nigel Hyatt Copyright 2006

    To prevent future accidents, a complete examination of the causes and contributory factors of an accident is necessary. Stressing the need to correct these issues, Incident Investigation and Accident Prevention in the Process and Allied Industries strikes a balance between the theoretical and applied aspects of accident investigation while also addressing accident prevention.

    Based on the authors forty years of experience, this detailed work covers an extensive range of topics often encountered during an incident investigation. Since the scope and needs of investigations can widely vary, the author begins with an introduction that provides guidance on how to use the book. He supplies a "roadmap" of incident investigation, making the material accessible to novices yet also valuable to more seasoned investigators.

    Topics include:

  • Responding to occurrence of incidents and emergency response
  • Securing the site and handling eyewitness testimonies
  • Notification of appropriate authorities, compliance requirements, and legal and insurance issues
  • Internal/external incident investigation options and investigation team requirements
  • Disassembly, gathering, screening, tagging, storing of evidence, and post-incident testing
  • Establishing preliminary causal mechanisms and root cause determinations
  • Multiple cause determination, incident modeling, and human error evaluation and reporting
  • Remedial and preventative measures, lessons learned, and reconstruction and retraining
  • Accident prevention through predictive methodologies, including pro-active measures
  • Pre- and post-incident management
  • Corporate structuring, attitudinal problems, and planning an accident prevention program
  • Introduction and Guide
    Purpose of Incident Investigation
    Onsite Investigation: Initial and Other Issues
    Evidence Gathering: Eyewitness Testimonies and Interviews
    Specific Questions for Evidence Gathering
    Legal and Insurance Issues
    Onsite and Offsite Investigation Teams
    Development of Hypothesis for Incidents
    Time Aspects: Event Sequences
    Determining Preliminary Causal Mechanisms
    Evidence: Physical and Forensic
    Post-Incident Testing: Assigning and Conducting Laboratory Tests
    Knowledge, Experience of Plant Personnel, and After Effects
    Potential for Human Error
    Multiple Cause Determination
    Incident Modeling - Quantifying Health and Plant Impacts
    Common Cause Failures, and Some Common Failures
    Getting the Analysis Right
    Report Documentation and Communication
    Incident Prevention and Remediation Measures Following an Incident
    Lessons Learned, Regrouping, Repairing, and Reconstruction, Re-Training
    Accident Prevention: The Role of Predictive Methodologies
    Accident Prevention: Pro-Active Measures
    Accident Prevention: Pre- and Post Incident Management
    Accident Prevention: Corporate Structuring and Attitudinal Problems
    Accident Prevention: Planning for Accident Prevention

    Appendix A: Aspects of Typical Incident Report Documentation
    Appendix B: Emergency Response Analysis
    Appendix C: Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and Other Tests
    Appendix D. Plant Safety Program
    Appendix E: Process Hazards Analysis Methods
    Appendix F: Management of Change (MOC)
    Appendix G: Photographic Issues
    Appendix H: Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART)
    Appendix I: Explosion Energy]
    Appendix J: Safety Integrity Level (SIL) and Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA)
    Appendix K: List of Methodologies Commonly Used in Incident Investigation
    Acronyms and Terms
    Recommended Reading and Reference Material

    Biography

    Nigel Hyatt