Incident Analysis using the Root Cause (Tripod Beta) Methodology-An SPDC Experience

Abstract The Root cause analysis, called the Tripod Beta, is an approach to the analysis of incidents using the Tripod theory of Accident causation and the hazard and effect management Process (HEMP). This approach was adopted few years ago to stem the increasing rates of serious HSE incidents in SPDC and the advantages can be seen. The pattern of previous incident investigation has been the same-the discovery that an incident happens always puts an end to the investigation, as if there is no need to look further-no need to see that such incidents are the effects of other causes. The root cause (Tripod Beta) tool is a tree approach to the analysis of accidents and incidents. The method will lead you to take both short term immediate corrective actions, as well as finding the underlying root causes (latent failures) hidden in the way we do our work that will cause similar problems in the future. The Tripod Beta promotes thorough incident investigation with clear, concise and consistent reporting. This paper presents the SPDC experience using this tripod Beta method in carrying out incident investigation/analysis and the incident trends (since adopting the method) and advantages will be highlighted