I’ve recently published an article on the application of systems thinking concepts in accident analysis. The article is published in Safety Science available via ScienceDirect. The paper includes a discussion on the Bellevue fire in Western Australia.
Anyone interested in the article can contact me via y.goh @ curtin.edu.au (remove the spaces adjacent to “@”)
The latest accident alerts from Singapore had been improving in its usefulness. The case studies are relatively prompt and have pictures to help readers understand the cases better. The most recent alert can be found here.
Some possible improvements include providing a set of indexes on the case (like what Chemical Safety Board does for its accident reports) to facilitate classification of the lessons learned. A database should be developed to allow public to search for past cases. Perhaps a forum can be created to allow safety professionals to discuss the cases to derive other useful lessons.
Straits Times reported that the Singapore Flyer (a larger version of the London Eye) which stopped about 3 weeks ago, had similar incidents before. The previous incidents were relatively minor as compare to the Dec 23 08 incident, where 173 passengers were stuck in the wheel for more than 6 hours.
Incidents like this would have similar organisational factors and cultural issues as in Columbia Space Shuttle incident (see my last post). Being one of the major tourist attractions of Singapore and the fact that there are lots of media and public attention on the flyer, it is not surprising that the organisation is under pressure to push the flyer to function as plan… I hope the on-going inquiry will look into these organisational and cultural issues.
NASA just released a report titled, “Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report”. The final report is focused on the technical issues involved in the Columbia space shuttle accident in 2003. The report can be downloaded from http://www.nasa.gov/news/reports/index.html.
To me, the 2003 investigation report by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board is more interesting… the report can be downloaded from the same website above. The 2003 report covered organisational factors that contributed to the accident. As in most major incident investigation reports, safety culture was highlighted as a key contributor. The investigation board also highlighted the relationship with the Challenger accident. Very interesting insights. Worth reading…
Location of accident (Country, State, Address): U.S.A., Kanawha County, West Virginia
Company: Bayer CropScience
Date and time of accident: 28 August 2008, 10:40pm
Industry Type: Chemical Industry
Severity: One killed and one injured
Type of Accident: Fire and explosion
Description of accident: A major fire and explosion occurred at Bayer CropScience in West Virginia resulting in at least one killed and one injured. According to the Chemical Safety Board, the blast could be felt several miles away.
CSB Deploys to Fatal Accident at Bayer CropScience in West Virginia
“Major explosion closes I-64 in Kanawha County”
Information on Larvin Insecticide produced at Bayer CropScience