The Investigation Process Research Resources site
A Pro Bono site with hundreds of resources for Investigation Process studies.
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INVESTIGATING
INVESTIGATIONS

to advance the
State-of-the-Art of
investigations, through
investigation process
research.


Research Resources:


Launched Aug 26 1996.

NOTE: Due to recent stroke, heart attack and cancer problems at 92, updates of external source references are lagging badly. Use internet repositories and search engines to find recent activities.

 

WELCOME to the IPRR site for researchers and practitioners.

Our 24th year of pro bono service.

Check the Site Guide (above) for an quick site overview. Go to www.ludwigbenner.org for the complete archives of over 150 my works. L Benner

  Site updated through . . . . Nov 17 , 2020

  • New. Guidance for occasional process industry investigation participants. View abstrract (2019)

  • New. Accident investigation data: Users' unrecognized challenges. View until July 14, 2019

  • New " on line Databases. Databases include 63 Investigation Process Issues; 150+ Samples of Foundational Views Underlying Accident Investigation Processes; 38 Accident Investigation and Analysis Methods; Extracted Statements About Cause from seminar papers; and a student opinion survey. (2019)

  • A database containing hundreds of References dating back to 1975 is available for investigation process researchers and practitioners, at www.ludwigbenner.org/arch2.htm

    A publication created by academics, ostensibly to provide a body of knowledge as a basis for professional certification and for accreditation of education programs giving entry to a profession is tiitled "Models of Causation: Safety'" See HaSPA (Health and Safety Professionals Alliance).(2012). The Core Body of Knowledge for Generalist OHS Professionals. Tullamarine, VIC. Safety Institute of Australia. 5/2017

  • The References List section has been significantly updated with numerous additions from my papers, annotated to indicate the papers' main messages. New works have been added to the on-line section of my archives at my www.ludwigbenner.org web site. (2/16)

  • A paper What do STAMP-based Analysts Expect from Safety Investigations?describes variations in accident investigation reports and other input data challenges that STAMP/CAST analysts need to recognize in selecting candidate accidents for analyses, and options for addressing these challenges. It can be viewed at Procedia Engineering, Volume 128, p 93-102 (11/2015

  • A paper arguing that some legal constructs be purged from safety investigations with the title Is It Time To Purge Legal Constructs From Safety Investigations is posted at the www.safetydifferently.com web site, with some comments. (11/15)

  • An article ISASI: 50 Years of Investigations describing the most noteworthy aviation accident investigations since 1964, and the role of investigations can be read in July-September 2014 ISASI Forum, p10-23 (Aug 2015)

  • Thought-provoking Alaska newspaper article for investigators and researchers in the Alaska Dispatch News, 2014, NTSB: 'Inadequate safety management' contributed to fatal trooper helicopter crash,"" describes how a published causal statement was changed during a meeting just before publication of an accident investigation report. November 5, 2014. Last viewed at http://www.adn.com/article/20141105/ntsb-inadequate-safety-management-contributed-fatal-trooper-helicopter-crash (Nov 6 2014)

    Personal comments on status of investigation processes. (Jan 2017)

    Everyone involved in any way with the investigation of accidents or incidents for safety purposes (safety investigations) should be aware of several issues with present practices:

    1. As of this darte, the Wikipedia article on accident investigation/accident analysis is based on antiquated concepts and practices, and should be treated circumspectly. (1/2017)

    2. The interchangeability of investigation and analysis in academic and practitioner dialogues is confusing, and masks the conflation of three very different functions involved in present safety investigations practices and studies, namely: 1) the reconstruction of the accident process from source data created during an occurrence to create a documented description of what happened based on empirical evidence; 2) the analyses of that description to satisfy various user needs like attribution of causes, characterization of factors, allegations of error or failure, fault, negligence, etc., and 3) use of the descriptions, analyses and other input data to prepare and implement responses to what was reported. Each function requires a different knowledge base, skill and tool set (KST) and data, but most present practices demand they be performed by individuals untrained in the function-specific KST sets, to the detriment of the respective functional outputs and conflated report sections.

    3. Over 30 investigation methods are in use for the production of accident report data., each one producing different outputs. See database with details. This produces a cacophony of investigation databases that include mixtures of facts, implied allegations, subjective judgments and characterizations, unobservable attributes, semantic ambiguity and inconsistency, unverifiable or unreproducible content, and other incompatibilities. The consequences for safety research and report utility are largely unrecognized. A report of the study of this situation was published in 2019. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.05.021)

    4. A US governmental agency (EPA) recently imposed a new regulatory requirement for the reporting of accident/incident investigations requiring use of one of the investigation methods without any comparative technical analysis to support its selection, which is likely to stifle promising investigation process research interest or supporting resources to improve a demonstrably inferior practice. Jan 2017

    5. A document that may be of interest to investigation process researchers comments on aspects of a proposed safety regulation for certain hazardous facilities by the US EPA, raising issues about accident reporting and root cause reporting requirements and emergency planning and information flows was posted at href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OEM-2015-0725-0459">https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OEM-2015-0725-0459 May 2016

  • See previous News posted here at News Archives .

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    Material posted here is not necessarily endorsed by this site. The page coding is copyrighted, and is now available free under the terms of a GNU General Public License. View Copyright

    If you use or download any material from this site, please reference this site as the source, and honor copyrights.

    NOTE: This site does not engage in, support or report on "ACCIDENT CAUSATION RESEARCH" )

     

     

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