IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reensy/v182y2019icp73-85.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A new accident causation model based on information flow and its application in Tianjin Port fire and explosion accident

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Chao
  • Huang, Lang

Abstract

Accident causation models can provide a framework of reference to help understand and explain how an accident occurs. The role of information flow (IF) in accident causation is profound. In this study, an accident causation model was developed and then validated to address the relevant accident-causing mechanisms based on IF. Three steps were followed to develop the new model. Firstly, the roles of IF in system safety were confirmed. Secondly, the principles of accident-causing mechanisms were addressed from the perspective of IF. Thirdly, the system safety factors were classified at the micro-, meso- and macro- levels. At each level, these factors were further divided into six information-centric aspects. The structure of the new model, known as the IF-based Accident-causing Model (IFAM), was constructed based on the hypothesis that any breakdown of IF at each level or between two adjacent levels of a system is the potential causation of accidents. To demonstrate the viability of IFAM, the Tianjin Port fire and explosion accident, which shocked the world and aroused widespread media attention, was selected as the case in this study. Results showed that this model can provide a new idea and method for accident analysis, as well as a new perspective for system safety investigation.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Chao & Huang, Lang, 2019. "A new accident causation model based on information flow and its application in Tianjin Port fire and explosion accident," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 73-85.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reensy:v:182:y:2019:i:c:p:73-85
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2018.10.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832017314114
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ress.2018.10.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saleh, J.H. & Marais, K.B. & Bakolas, E. & Cowlagi, R.V., 2010. "Highlights from the literature on accident causation and system safety: Review of major ideas, recent contributions, and challenges," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1105-1116.
    2. Yoon, Young Sik & Ham, Dong-Han & Yoon, Wan Chul, 2016. "Application of activity theory to analysis of human-related accidents: Method and case studies," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 22-34.
    3. Herrera, I.A. & Woltjer, R., 2010. "Comparing a multi-linear (STEP) and systemic (FRAM) method for accident analysis," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 95(12), pages 1269-1275.
    4. Paul Slovic & Melissa L. Finucane & Ellen Peters & Donald G. MacGregor, 2004. "Risk as Analysis and Risk as Feelings: Some Thoughts about Affect, Reason, Risk, and Rationality," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2), pages 311-322, April.
    5. Albino, Vito & Pontrandolfo, Pierpaolo & Scozzi, Barbara, 2002. "Analysis of information flows to enhance the coordination of production processes," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1-2), pages 7-19, January.
    6. Raghvendra V. Cowlagi & Joseph H. Saleh, 2013. "Coordinability and Consistency in Accident Causation and Prevention: Formal System Theoretic Concepts for Safety in Multilevel Systems," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(3), pages 420-433, March.
    7. Leveson, Nancy, 2015. "A systems approach to risk management through leading safety indicators," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 17-34.
    8. Bjerga, Torbjørn & Aven, Terje & Zio, Enrico, 2016. "Uncertainty treatment in risk analysis of complex systems: The cases of STAMP and FRAM," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 203-209.
    9. Ehsani, Maryam & Makui, Ahmad & Sadi Nezhad, Soheil, 2010. "A methodology for analyzing decision networks, based on information theory," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(3), pages 853-863, May.
    10. Bakolas, Efstathios & Saleh, Joseph H., 2011. "Augmenting defense-in-depth with the concepts of observability and diagnosability from Control Theory and Discrete Event Systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 184-193.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Albert P. C. Chan & Junfeng Guan & Tracy N. Y. Choi & Yang Yang & Guangdong Wu & Edmond Lam, 2023. "Improving Safety Performance of Construction Workers through Learning from Incidents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Li, Xin & Chen, Chao & Hong, Yi-du & Yang, Fu-qiang, 2023. "Exploring hazardous chemical explosion accidents with association rules and Bayesian networks," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    3. Tan, Samson & Moinuddin, Khalid, 2019. "Systematic review of human and organizational risks for probabilistic risk analysis in high-rise buildings," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 233-250.
    4. Huimin Guo & Shugang Li & Lianhua Cheng, 2022. "Research on the Causes of Gas Explosion Accidents Based on Safety Information Transmission," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-13, August.
    5. Guirong Zhang & Wei Feng & Yu Lei, 2022. "Human Factor Analysis (HFA) Based on a Complex Network and Its Application in Gas Explosion Accidents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Chen, Yuanjiang & Feng, Wei & Jiang, Zhiqiang & Duan, Lingling & Cheng, Shuangyi, 2021. "An accident causation model based on safety information cognition and its application," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Faiella, Giuliana & Parand, Anam & Franklin, Bryony Dean & Chana, Prem & Cesarelli, Mario & Stanton, Neville A. & Sevdalis, Nick, 2018. "Expanding healthcare failure mode and effect analysis: A composite proactive risk analysis approach," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 117-126.
    2. Khastgir, Siddartha & Brewerton, Simon & Thomas, John & Jennings, Paul, 2021. "Systems Approach to Creating Test Scenarios for Automated Driving Systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    3. Durugbo, Christopher & Tiwari, Ashutosh & Alcock, Jeffrey R., 2013. "Modelling information flow for organisations: A review of approaches and future challenges," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 597-610.
    4. Ahmad Dehghan Nejad & Amirhosein Bahramzadeh, 2021. "The competency of organizational safety control structure; a framework for evaluation," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 12(6), pages 1180-1198, December.
    5. Raghvendra V. Cowlagi & Joseph H. Saleh, 2013. "Coordinability and Consistency in Accident Causation and Prevention: Formal System Theoretic Concepts for Safety in Multilevel Systems," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(3), pages 420-433, March.
    6. Rui Huang & Hui Liu & Hongliang Ma & Yujie Qiang & Kai Pan & Xiaoqing Gou & Xin Wang & Dong Ye & Haining Wang & Adam Glowacz, 2022. "Accident Prevention Analysis: Exploring the Intellectual Structure of a Research Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-26, July.
    7. Favarò, Francesca M. & Saleh, Joseph H., 2016. "Toward risk assessment 2.0: Safety supervisory control and model-based hazard monitoring for risk-informed safety interventions," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 316-330.
    8. Foreman, Veronica L. & Favaró, Francesca M. & Saleh, Joseph H. & Johnson, Christopher W., 2015. "Software in military aviation and drone mishaps: Analysis and recommendations for the investigation process," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 101-111.
    9. Santos, Paula Luisa Costa Teixeira & Monteiro, Paulo Adelino Antunes & Studic, Milena & Majumdar, Arnab, 2017. "A methodology used for the development of an Air Traffic Management functional system architecture," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 445-457.
    10. Saleh, Joseph H. & Pendley, Cynthia C., 2012. "From learning from accidents to teaching about accident causation and prevention: Multidisciplinary education and safety literacy for all engineering students," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 105-113.
    11. Meng, Xiangkun & Li, Xinhong & Wang, Weigang & Song, Guozheng & Chen, Guoming & Zhu, Jingyu, 2021. "A novel methodology to analyze accident path in deepwater drilling operation considering uncertain information," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    12. Qiao, Wanguan & Li, Xinchun & Liu, Quanlong, 2019. "Systemic approaches to incident analysis in coal mines: Comparison of the STAMP, FRAM and “2–4” models," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Favarò, Francesca M. & Jackson, David W. & Saleh, Joseph H. & Mavris, Dimitri N., 2013. "Software contributions to aircraft adverse events: Case studies and analyses of recurrent accident patterns and failure mechanisms," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 131-142.
    14. Mahajan, Haneet Singh & Bradley, Thomas & Pasricha, Sudeep, 2017. "Application of systems theoretic process analysis to a lane keeping assist system," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 177-183.
    15. Raman Kachurka & Michał W. Krawczyk & Joanna Rachubik, 2021. "Persuasive messages will not raise COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Evidence from a nation-wide online experiment," Working Papers 2021-07, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    16. James K. Hammitt, 2020. "Valuing mortality risk in the time of COVID-19," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 129-154, October.
    17. Huaiyuan Zhai & Mengjie Li & Shengyue Hao & Mingli Chen & Lingchen Kong, 2021. "How Does Metro Maintenance Staff’s Risk Perception Influence Safety Citizenship Behavior—The Mediating Role of Safety Attitude," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-20, May.
    18. Scorgie, Fiona & Khoza, Nomhle & Delany-Moretlwe, Sinead & Velloza, Jennifer & Mangxilana, Nomvuyo & Atujuna, Millicent & Chitukuta, Miria & Matambanadzo, Kudzai V. & Hosek, Sybil & Makhale, Lerato & , 2021. "Narrative sexual histories and perceptions of HIV risk among young women taking PrEP in southern Africa: Findings from a novel participatory method," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    19. Kang, Min Jung & Park, Heejun, 2011. "Impact of experience on government policy toward acceptance of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Korea," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3465-3475, June.
    20. Branden B. Johnson, 2017. "Explaining Americans’ responses to dread epidemics: an illustration with Ebola in late 2014," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(10), pages 1338-1357, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reensy:v:182:y:2019:i:c:p:73-85. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/reliability-engineering-and-system-safety .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.